Planning gets more integral and holistic. With new questions regarding health, climate, equity and new mobility modes, understanding and influencing travel demand is becoming more important than just adding supply to the transport system. Luckily there is nowadays a lot of data available on user needs and mobility patterns to make new kind of analysis. Decision-making can be made more rational and pre-emptive.

BRUTUS by Ramboll is a data driven simulation model equipped with a multi-modal modelling engine simulating how everyone is likely to travel in the transport system. On top of the modelling engine, we have implemented a wide range of applications. Our clients can explore simulation results and analyze scenarios through the cloud and browser-based Brutus UI even without any expert knowledge on the model itself.

Case example: Highly detailed analysis of the effects of bicycle infrastructure investments.

The bicycle has an important role in creating livable places for people. Being able to understand the travel demand of cyclists and to evaluate the effect of different cycling infrastructure investments or policy measures is important for cities and regions to facilitate cyclists in the best possible way.

BRUTUS by Ramboll is a data driven simulation model, equipped with a multi-modal modelling engine that simulates how everyone is likely to travel in the transport system. BRUTUS simulates how people travel on a high spatial resolution and considers the individual characteristics of people. This is crucial for understanding the needs of cyclists; individual preferences are important, and trips undertaken by active modes are often taken places on shorter distances, e.g. in dense urban areas. Travel demand is still modeled as multi-modal to get the modal shares to the correct level, but close attention is been paid to the bicycle network and route choices.

In this way BRUTUS helps policy makers and planners to evaluate a wide range of bicycle measures, ranging from improvements on small local cycling paths to the implementation of bicycle highways. The effects can be analyzed in great detail, focusing on for instance cycling volumes on specific routes or on certain user groups. If needed, cycling and walking trips from BRUTUS can be extracted to detailed microsimulation models.

BRUTUS is used by bicycle planning experts in Finland and The Netherlands. Our clients can explore simulation results and analyze scenarios through the cloud and browser-based Brutus UI even without any expert knowledge on the model itself.

Please visit: https://ramboll.com/digital-mobility-lab/modelling/brutus

Contact us directly:
Paavo Moilanen, Market Manager, Smart Mobility
M +358 (40) 527 3277 paavo.moilanen@ramboll.fi

Martijn Hollestelle, Data Scientist, Digital Mobility Lab
M +358 44 755 8853, martijn.hollestelle@ramboll.fi