# 1l: MTC MNL Mode Choice (Legacy Style)¶

This example is a mode choice model built using the MTC example dataset. We will use a “legacy” style of coding the utility functions, which is deprecated as of larch version 3.3. It still works, but it is not as easy to read and understand as the newer style. If you are learning larch, it’s probably best to skip this example.

First we create the DB and Model objects:

d = larch.DB.Example('MTC')
m = larch.Model(d)


Then we can build up the utility function. We’ll use some idco data first, using the utility.co command. This command takes two or three arguments: a data column, an alternative code, and an (optional) parameter name. If no parameter name is given, one will be created automatically. The data column is a string and can be any idCO data column or a pre-calculated value derived from one or more idCO data columns, or no data columns at all (e.g., by just giving an integer, as a string, as the name of the column).

m.utility.co("1",2,"ASC_SR2")
m.utility.co("1",3,"ASC_SR3P")
m.utility.co("1",4,"ASC_TRAN")
m.utility.co("1",5,"ASC_BIKE")
m.utility.co("1",6,"ASC_WALK")
m.utility.co("hhinc",2)
m.utility.co("hhinc",3)
m.utility.co("hhinc",4)
m.utility.co("hhinc",5)
m.utility.co("hhinc",6)


Next we’ll use some idca data, with the utility.ca command. This command takes one or two arguments: a data column, an alternative code, and an (optional) parameter name. If no parameter name is given, one will be created automatically. You can give an integer as the data column here as well, but you probably won’t want to (as it will create problems in parameter estimation if, for an idca variable, there is no variance across alternatives.

m.utility.ca("tottime")
m.utility.ca("totcost")


We can specify some model options too. And let’s give our model a descriptive title.

m.option.calc_std_errors = True
m.title = "MTC Example 1 (Simple MNL)"


Having created this model, we can then estimate it:

>>> m.maximize_loglike()
messages: Optimization terminated successfully ...
>>> m.loglike()
-3626.18...

>>> print(m)
============================================================================================
MTC Example 1 (Simple MNL)
============================================================================================
Model Parameter Estimates
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parameter       InitValue       FinalValue      StdError        t-Stat          NullValue
ASC_SR2          0              -2.17804         0.104638       -20.815          0
ASC_SR3P         0              -3.72513         0.177692       -20.964          0
ASC_TRAN         0              -0.670973        0.132591       -5.06047         0
ASC_BIKE         0              -2.37634         0.304502       -7.80403         0
ASC_WALK         0              -0.206814        0.1941         -1.0655          0
hhinc#2          0              -0.00217         0.00155329     -1.39704         0
hhinc#3          0               0.000357656     0.00253773      0.140935        0
hhinc#4          0              -0.00528648      0.00182882     -2.89064         0
hhinc#5          0              -0.0128081       0.00532408     -2.40568         0
hhinc#6          0              -0.00968626      0.00303305     -3.19358         0
tottime          0              -0.0513404       0.00309941     -16.5646         0
totcost          0              -0.00492031      0.000238894    -20.5962         0
============================================================================================
Model Estimation Statistics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Log Likelihood at Convergence           -3626.19
Log Likelihood at Null Parameters       -7309.60
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rho Squared w.r.t. Null Parameters      0.504
============================================================================================
...


You can then access individual parameters from the model either by name or number (using zero-based indexing).

>>> m[0]
ModelParameter('ASC_SR2', value=-2.17...)

>>> m['totcost']
ModelParameter('totcost', value=-0.00492...)


The len() function retrieves the number of parameters.

>>> len(m)
12


You can get a list of the parameter names in order.

>>> m.parameter_names()
['ASC_SR2', 'ASC_SR3P', 'ASC_TRAN', 'ASC_BIKE', 'ASC_WALK', 'hhinc#2',
'hhinc#3', 'hhinc#4', 'hhinc#5', 'hhinc#6', 'tottime', 'totcost']