Emerging trends in household travel survey programs

Abstract

Transportation planners use household travel surveys to understand travel behavior, whether to develop forecasts of travel activity using travel demand or simulation models, to analyze personal motivations that drive the decision to travel, to identify users of existing transportation infrastructure and services, or to determine responsiveness to available or future travel options. Large urban area transportation planning organizations are faced with making decisions on their next household travel surveying effort to meet growing data needs. The New York Metropolitan Transportation Planning Council (NYMTC) has focused attention on surveying options, including conducting a pilot study to evaluate the ability to collect household travel data using a smartphone app. This research reviews current travel surveying strategies aimed at improving timeliness and accuracy, while reducing participant burden (e.g., using smartphone technologies). It also includes a vision for a long-term data program, facilitated by the establishment of a regional Community of Practice (CoP) to support multi-agency data collection efforts.

Keywords

• Household travel survey
• Smartphone travel survey
• Travel behavior data
• Community of Practice
• Long-term data collection program
• Deployment strategy