Bay Area UrbanSim (BAUS) Implementation

This is the UrbanSim implementation for the Bay Area. Documentation for the UrbanSim framework is available here. All documentation for Bay Area Urbansim is at: http://bayareametro.github.io/bayarea_urbansim/main/

Installation

Bay Area UrbanSim is written in Python and runs in a command line environment. It's compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux, and with Python 2.7 and 3.5+. Python 3 is recommended.

1. Install the Anaconda Python distribution (not strictly required, but makes things easier and more reliable)
2. Clone this repository
3. Create a Python environment with the current dependencies: conda env create -f baus-env-2023.yml
4. Activate the environment: conda activate baus-env-2023
5. Store a run_setup.yaml file in the repository's main directory and use it to specify a run name
6. Use run_setup.yaml to specify a path to source model inputs from (stored on MTC's servers for internal use)
7. Use run_setup.yaml to specify a path for model outputs to write to (it's helpful if the outputs folder name matches the model run name)
8. Run python baus.py from the main model directory (more info about the command line arguments: python baus.py --help)

Optional Slack Messenger

• The Slack SDK will be installed as part of the environment creation
• Slack task integration is enabled by default (--disable-slack flag set to False).
• Set environment variables as appropriate for API communication SLACK_TOKEN
• Set environment variable URBANSIM_SLACK = TRUE

Optional Asana Integration

• The Asana SDK will be installed as part of the environment creation
• Asana task integration is disabled by default (--enable-asana flag set to False).
• Set environment variables as appropriate for API communication (ASANA_TOKEN, ASANA_CLIENT_ID, ASANA_SECRET)

Optional Model Run Visualizer

• Configure the location that BAUS will write the visualizer files to in run_setup.yaml (typically stored on the M-drive)
• Open the visualizer from the BAUS repository to explore the model run, and/or
• Open the visualizer from the BAUS repository and publish it to the web (hosted on MTC's Tableau account). At this time runs can be removed from model_run_inventory.csv to select the runs to be shown on the web tool

Documentation

• See the repository's gh-pages branch for instructions on installing the BAUS documentation packages and submitting documentation

Branches

Branch	Owner	Last Updated	Commits ahead of main	PR	Description
main	—	—	N/A		Primary development branch
add_metrics_information	Aksel	2024-09-19	7	#380	SLR and greenfield metrics documentation updates
cloud_eval	Joe A	2026-03-10	158		Parcel-to-block crosswalk QAQC scripts
development	Joe A	2026-03-09	154		Feasibility daylighting and growth metrics segmenting
documentation_datatypes_dict	Yuqi	2022-05-25	50		The main value was the data dictionaries in the data folder, files named [mod_date]_name.md, [mod_date]_name.csv , [mod_data_interm]_data.csv , and [mod_data_output]_name.csv. Some of these dictionaries are outdated after the BAUS "clean & stabilize" we did back in 2023. These dictionaries are useful and necessary, but we never got to bringing them into the new documentation system. -> Delete once the dictionaries have been added to the documentation
fbp_mod_updates	Yuqi	2026-03-12	158	#387	CARB SCS reporting, 2035 transit stop summaries
fbp_mods_deed_restricted	Aksel Olsen	2025-04-29	61		Deed-restricted unit handling fixes in subsidized developer
generic_tracing_tools	Yuqi	2023-02-22	3		The key feature of this branch is the src_for_debug folder where I cloned the UrbanSim source code of the version used in Bay Area Urbansim to help debug and understand the code, e.g. I added print and to_csv statements to sqftproforma.py to help understand the functions. -> Keep as branch
gh-pages	—	—	N/A		MkDocs documentation deployment -> Keep as branch
lcm_probs	Joe A	2025-10-24	146		Location choice model probability work
legacy_gh_pages	—	—	N/A		Legacy documentation branch before switching to MkDocs. -> Delete once relevant information has been brought into the new gh_pages branch
pba50p_eir_alt	Aksel	2025-05-10	62		PBA50+ EIR alternative scenarios with EC5 geography/sectoral filters
pipeline_flow_test	Yuqi	2024-08-14	7		Growth pattern metrics for pipeline test runs