SANDAG plans for many complex mobility issues facing the San Diego region, including development of the Regional Plan. Transportation models are complex analysis tools used to provide transportation planners and policymakers with information to help allocate scare resources fairly and equitably. As we plan for the future, models are used to forecast potential future scenarios of where people will live and how they will travel. They are the principal tool used for alternatives analysis.
The SANDAG transportation model is an activity-based model (ABM). It simulates individual and household transportation decisions that make up their daily travel. This includes all trips people make on a daily basis, such as to work, school, shopping, healthcare, and recreation. An ABM provides a controlled, analytical platform so that different inputs and alternatives can be evaluated to predict whether, when, and how this travel occurs. SANDAG ABM accounts for a variety of different weekday travel markets in the region, including San Diego region resident travel, travel by Mexico residents and other travelers crossing San Diego County’s borders, visitor travel, airport passengers at both the San Diego International Airport and the Cross Border Xpress bridge to the Tijuana International Airport, and commercial travel.
ABM2+ is the most recent version of the SANDAG ABM designed for application in the 2021 Regional Plan. ABM2 was used for the 2019 Federal Regional Transportation Plan and has a based year of 2016. ABM1 was used for the 2015 Plan and has a base year of 2012.