Coming in the 1990s: The agency-friendly travel survey

Abstract

Area wide travel surveys formed the backbone of transportation analysis and methodology in the initial development of transportation plans during the 1960s and early 70s, particularly in the United States. These general purpose surveys were extremely valuable as key elements of travel descriptions, new systems analysis, and plan development. Unfortunately, they were also very expensive, were often large and unwieldy, took many years to process, and produced less than manageable data sets which were often under-utilized; in short, decidedly agency-unfriendly. Squeezed by goals of shorter time frame, budget constraints, survey timing, limited analysis and single purpose usage, transportation agencies evolved during the 1970s and 80s a generally “kinder, gentler” survey methodology, focusing primarily on meeting immediate agency objectives with minimum hassle. In the 1970s, modal and group surveys were most common, and in the 1980s project surveys were the norm. The“agency-friendly travel survey” of the 1990s is described in this paper in terms of its general characteristics, its target population, cost, effectiveness, and timeliness.

The paper suggests a survey structure which probably will rely heavily upon aggregate statistics collected by periodic censuses, match exactly the categorical classifications of aggregate data bases, targets choice behavior, and focuses on sites rather than cities. Various high-tech GIS-based procedures, unobtrusive measurements, and other“on-board” data collection systems are also likely. The paper concludes that while transportation agencies are not in danger of losing the survey as a data gathering device, analysts must work within agency structures to conduct good surveys, private and public, since it is generally their requirements that will control such items.