Unless a student is already familiar with TRIPS, completing a TRIPS related MSc project can be a demanding task. Nonetheless the top student in the 1996/97 cohort has pursued such a project suggested by the TRIPS team. In preparation, the student attended the Highway Assignment Training Course prior to commencing his project. The project has looked at TRIPS signalised junction modelling through a case study of a selected junction in Southampton. The project has involved a comparison of manually-collected data and SCOOT data against modelling results produced by TRIPS and OSCADY. Support and advice provided by Roger Witte of the TRIPS team has been particularly helpful during the project. It is hoped that at least one student each year can be encouraged to complete a TRIPS-related project.
A three-year period of PhD study presents an ideal opportunity to conduct TRIPS related research. A PhD student is able to focus on a single topic for a long period of time and can therefore overcome the difficulties of becoming conversant with transport modelling and TRIPS that are much more prevalent in an MSc project. Establishing a TRIPS related PhD requires a suitable candidate student who can then be matched with appropriate funding. As yet this has not been achieved. A departmental bid for a PhD studentship to consider public transport modelling was placed alongside others but has been ranked second and is unlikely to be funded. [Page]
The TRG itself has a substantial portfolio of research contracts and TRIPS is now being considered and included in new research proposals.
Despite its coding and model development expertise concerning CONTRAM, the TRG recognise that its strength that can be offered to th
