Abstract
M.Ing. (Transportation)
This reseach focused on a quick response transportation planning software package called QRS II which was developed by A J Horowitz at the Centre for Urban Transportation Studies, University of Wisconsin, United states of America. The programme achieves its quick response by incorporating, inter alia, a large number of default parameters within its formulation. Several of these parameters define the typical travel characteristics of the population within a study area and as such,
suggest a particular socioeconomic, political, cultural and behavioral profile as existing in that area. These typical conditions may be representative of the behavior in many areas in the United States but may not adequately reflect conditions beyond that.
This study has set out to determine whether the default parameters used in QRS II are different to those that would be appropriate in Black towns in areas such as the East Rand Metropolitan Transport Area (ORMET) in South Africa. Local parameter values were identified and compared with the default values in QRS II. It was found that these values were significantly different. More research is required before QRS II can be considered fully adapted to conditions in Black urban areas within a Metropolitan area such as ORMET. However, the new values suggested in this study will go a long way to improving the appropriateness of QRS II applications in South Africa.