ABSTRACT This paper contributes to the emerging literature on freight studies by identifying the optimal freight traffic analysis zone (FTAZ) system at which to conduct macro-level freight travel analysis. To arrive at the optimal scale, we develop alternate zone systems by grouping census wards with similar freight-related characteristics (industrial characteristics, commercial land use characteristics, locational characteristics and socio-demographic characteristics). The resultant zone systems are analysed at multiple geographic scales and the optimal scale of each zone system is determined by performing the Brown–Forsythe test. Results suggest that a 1:3 aggregation ratio (24–28 zones) is the optimal scale for Metropolitan FTAZs, whereas the publicly available ad-hoc zone system and prior literature on National FTAZs follow 1:10 aggregation. The study findings suggest that Metropolitan planning organizations need to reconsider their existing data collection strategy, consider a larger aggregation ratio and, by extension, adopt smaller zones to ensure that both local and global freight travel characteristics are captured in freight travel analyses.

中文翻译：

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为大都市区设计货运交通分析区：确定宏观货运交通分析的最佳规模

摘要 本文通过确定进行宏观货运旅行分析的最佳货运交通分析区 (FTAZ) 系统，为有关货运研究的新兴文献做出了贡献。为了达到最佳规模，我们通过将具有类似货运相关特征（工业特征、商业土地利用特征、位置特征和社会人口特征）的人口普查区分组来开发备用区系统。生成的区域系统在多个地理尺度上进行分析，每个区域系统的最佳尺度通过执行 Brown-Forsythe 检验来确定。结果表明，1:3 的聚合比例（24-28 个区域）是大都会 FTAZ 的最佳规模，而公开可用的临时区域系统和关于国家 FTAZ 的先前文献遵循 1:10 的聚合。