Implementation of a cost-benefit analysis of Demand-Responsive Transport with a Multi-Agent Transport Simulation

In this paper, the technical requirements to perform a cost-benefit analysis of a Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) service with the traffic simulation software MATSim are elaborated in order to achieve the long-term goal of assessing the introduction of a DRT service in Göttingen and the surrounding area. The aim was to determine if the software is suitable for a cost-benefit analysis while providing a user manual for building a basic simulation that can be extended with public transport and DRT. The main result is that the software is suitable for a cost-benefit analysis of a DRT service. In particular, the most important internal and external costs, such as usage costs of the various modes of transport and emissions, can be integrated into the simulation scenarios. Thus, the scenarios presented in this paper can be extended by data from a mobility study of Göttingen and its surroundings in order to achieve the long-term goal. This paper is aimed at transport economists and researchers who are not familiar with MATSim, to provide them with a guide for the first steps in working with a traffic simulation software.