Session 483 national travel surveys: an international perspective

1. Session 483 national travel surveys: aninternational perspective Alan E. Pisarski

2. Where to start ? • A thank you to all the presenters • Excellent material to work with • Their work will benefit others in US and in the World

3. Where to start ? • A thank you to all the presenters • Excellent material to work with • Their work will benefit others in US and in the World • Is there a main message?

4. YES! • Surveys are VERRRY hard to do! • Hard to keep alive! • We are all challenged by changing: • Technologies • Demography • policy demands

5. IN MY WHITE PAPER FOR FHWA I USED THIS FORMAT TO REVIEW THE NHTS • CONTENT • METHODS • FINANCIAL • INSTITUTIONAL

6. FOR THIS I NEED TO ADD A 5TH CATEGORY • CONTENT • METHODS • FINANCIAL • INSTITUTIONAL • POLICY NEEDS

7. Some thoughts on content • Not too surprisingly content is very similar • Asking about rail passes • Asking about business travel • The great challenges • Get at long distance travel in one survey • Get at more detailed private vehicle activity • Get at variation in week’s travel

8. On long distance travel • We need a complete trip length distribution 0-1000 miles • We need a frequency distribution of what percent of long travel is generated by what percent of pop • Survey approaches that can’t do that have limited value • What share of travel lies between daily travel and intercity? World Tourism Organization of the UN defines this as = travel outside the “usual” environment • Not likely doable in a composite survey! • Not clear that it is worth the costs involved!

9. USA: ATS 1995 In US >2000 miles* = 10% of trips & 42% of long trip miles 10% of pop makes 51% of trips

10. Some thoughts on Methods • More Issues; more challenges; as expected • Periodicity is a great issue everywhere • 5 continuous surveys; • 9 others very variable in timing 4,6,10 years!!! • Research on decay rates of data needed • Advantages of a national register-like sample frame is evident • CATI still strong in some places; threatened in others. New techs are a big part of the future • NEED TO SHARE OUR EXPERIENCE WITH NEW TOOLS

11. Some thoughts on Finance • A struggle to do surveys • A struggle to sustain them • Maybe Switzerland is immune? Not really! • Do we fail to make the policy case for better information • Need research on value of data; B/C If you think data collection is pricey – consider the cost of ignorance!

12. Some thoughts on Institutions • Who leads – Who follows: A 3 way challenge • Cities/metros? • Provinces/States/Regions? • National? • Now trans-national EU; N. Amer. Surveys? • National plus add-ons is strong prospect • Canadian variation • Other models?

13. Some thoughts on Policy • Things getting very nichie in traditional data • e.g., Electric vehicles • Some niche modes • some niche purposes/activities • Some niche applications • Other Policies than directly transportation • Vehicle Safety • Environmental • Fuel Use and Efficiency • Sustainability

14. Thank you! Alan E. Pisarski alanpisarski@alanpisarski.com