Background
The MTC example model does not explicitly model preschool children attending daycare or preschool. Instead, those trips are represented through non-mandatory tours and non-mandatory trips.
Before deciding how to represent preschool travel in Lighthouse, we should review the survey data and understand how preschool children's travel is coded:
- Are daycare/preschool trips reported in the survey?
- If reported, are they coded with a school purpose or another purpose?
- What share of preschool-age children make these trips?
Depending on the survey coding and modeling objectives, there are two potential approaches for representing preschool travel in Lighthouse.
Option 1: Follow the MTC example model
Treat daycare and preschool travel as non-mandatory travel.
Pros
- Consistent with the MTC implementation.
- Simpler model structure.
- No additional school location choice segmentation required.
Cons
- Preschool travel is not explicitly represented.
- May limit sensitivity to daycare or preschool-related policy analyses.
Option 2: Explicitly model preschool travel as school travel
Treat daycare and preschool attendance as a school activity and create a dedicated preschool segment in the school location choice model.
Under this approach:
- Eligible preschool children would participate in school location choice.
- Preschool locations would be assigned through the school location choice model.
- Preschool tours would be generated as school tours.
This is similar to the approach used in the SANDAG example model.
Pros
- More behaviorally realistic representation of preschool travel.
- Explicitly models daycare and preschool destinations.
- Potentially improves sensitivity to policies affecting preschool accessibility.
Cons
- Adds modeling complexity.
- Requires school location choice extensions and calibration data.
Goals
- Review survey data and determine how preschool travel is coded.
- Evaluate whether preschool travel should be represented as non-mandatory travel or as an explicit school purpose.
- Assess the implementation requirements and data needs for an explicit preschool segment.
- Select and document the preferred approach for Lighthouse.
Background
The MTC example model does not explicitly model preschool children attending daycare or preschool. Instead, those trips are represented through non-mandatory tours and non-mandatory trips.
Before deciding how to represent preschool travel in Lighthouse, we should review the survey data and understand how preschool children's travel is coded:
Depending on the survey coding and modeling objectives, there are two potential approaches for representing preschool travel in Lighthouse.
Option 1: Follow the MTC example model
Treat daycare and preschool travel as non-mandatory travel.
Pros
Cons
Option 2: Explicitly model preschool travel as school travel
Treat daycare and preschool attendance as a school activity and create a dedicated preschool segment in the school location choice model.
Under this approach:
This is similar to the approach used in the SANDAG example model.
Pros
Cons
Goals