Transportation

Data Requests

To request a copy of the regional travel demand model, various data sets, and/or documentation not found on the MWCOG website, please submit either an e-mail or a signed letter to:

Ronald Milone
Travel Forecasting Program Director
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
777 North Capitol Street, NE
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20002

Your e-mail/letter should:

  • Be as specific as possible regarding what model version, data, and/or documentation is/are being requested. (See note below about land activity data).
  • Indicate how you intend to use the data/model, naming the specific study or research project, if applicable. This will help ensure that we give you the most appropriate model or data.
  • Indicate the name of your client agency, in the case of consultants and academics.
  • Indicate the approximate duration of your study.

What we ask of you:

  • If your study results in a report or other similar documentation, we would like to get a courtesy copy of this documentation, so that we can better understand how our model/data has been used.
  • If you find anomalies or errors in the data or model, please let us know about them, so that we can address them as quickly as possible.

Our response to you:

COG/TPB staff will respond to your request detailing what can be provided, on what timeline and at what cost. We reserve the right to charge for data requests, in order to cover our costs for staff time, materials, and possibly shipping and handling.

Notes:

  1. Running the travel demand model requires the use a proprietary software package that is produced, licensed, and marketed by Citilabs (e.g., Cube Voyager, and/or Cube Base). COG/TPB staff cannot provide this software.
  2. We do not have the resources to staff a "help desk" for the regional travel model, so it is expected that requesters of the travel model will have the knowledge and skills to use the model with minimal assistance from the TPB staff.
  3. It is the TPB staff policy to transmit only adopted travel models and adopted land activity forecasts, i.e., which have been used in a regional Air Quality Conformity Determination that has been approved by the TPB. Thus, we do not transmit developmental travel models or land activity forecasts.
  4. The latest travel model that is available for release to the public is the COG/TPB Version 2.3.66 Travel Demand Forecasting Model. The latest model inputs that are available for release to the public are the Round 9.0 Cooperative Forecasts and transportation networks from the 2016 Amendment to the CLRP and the FY 2017-2022 TIP for the following years: 2016, 2017, 2020, 2025, 2030 and 2040. See the transmittal memo for more details: Seifu. Memorandum to Files. "Transmittal Information for the COG/TPB Version 2.3.66 Travel Demand Model" February 16, 2017.
  5. If you would like to obtain zonal land activity forecast data, please let us know whether it is for use with the regional travel model or some other use, since that will determine the type of land use file you are sent. Zonal land use data for the regional travel model must undergo what is known as the CTPP-based employment adjustment, which ensures that a consistent employment definition is used by all counties and jurisdictions in the modeled area.