New Technology and Travel Surveys: The Way Forward

Traditional survey methods are fast reaching their “use by” dates. It is much harder for researchers to contact households through the telephone as a result of call screening and answering machine devices. In relation to face to face interviews, housing estates and buildings are increasingly becoming fenced off and protected by security systems making it virtually impossible for the researcher to enter the premises, if not expected, as well as the fact that more often than not, householders are not available at the time when the survey is being conducted. In addition, the over use of marketing surveys has led people to believe that every survey they are asked to complete is of this type. Together, these difficulties have led to rising item and unit non-response, and consequently, rising unit costs. This is not only a phenomena associated with travel surveys, but rather the entire realm of social science research. Development of the World Wide Web has had some dramatic impacts on the global environment, in relation to communication, information and research. The development of web based surveys (internet-based or e-mail), is commonly seen as a combative measure to rising costs and the declining response problem faced by most survey practitioners. Despite the phenomenal uptake of this technology by industry and individuals, some people are still to embrace this new medium. This poses some interesting questions for researchers wanting to utilise this technology to combat low response rates. One of the major concerns today, in relation to web based surveys, is sample bias. Internet users are usually of higher socio-economic status. In addition, people who have access to the internet are not always certain of their ability to utilise the internet, let alone complete a web based survey. These are important issues that need to be considered if web based surveys are to be used

Standards for Household Travel Surveys-Some Proposals

Rising costs of household travel surveys and the critical need for good quality data, has led to questions about how best to obtain a quality survey that provides data comparable to other household travel surveys. To provide answers to these questions, the U.S. National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored development and recommendations of standards for household travel surveys. After reviewing briefly the state of practice of standards for surveys, a number of proposed standards are outlined. These proposals have been developed in the U.S. context, but offer potential for other countries, e.g., Australia, and New Zealand. A number of potential standards are discussed in the paper. The first are concerned with the initial design phases of a survey. The second are concerned with instrument design and the third with survey methodology. The fourth relate to non-response and the final to the analysis of survey results. Illustrations are provided of the consequences of not having standards and the difficulties and loss of quality that have arisen in past surveys. It is concluded that household travel survey quality could be enhanced significantly by adopting standards in all of the areas discussed in this paper

Estimating Eligibility Rates: A Crucial Component of the Calculation for Response Rates

Response rates are used by analysts to assess survey quality: higher response rates are usually desired to reduce the incidence of non-response bias. The response rate is simply defined as the ratio of the number of completed interviews divided by the number of eligible sample units. However, due to the inconsistency of the definition of response rates often quoted in travel surveys, it is difficult to explicitly state that declining response rates are the result of less people willing to participate in surveys or are attributed to the calculation of response rates. It is most likely to be a combination of these two factors. This paper describes two well known formulas used to calculate response rates; the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO) formula and the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) formula. The real difference between these formulas lies in the estimate of eligible sample units amongst the sample units of unknown eligibility. Through examination of two call history files, the recruitment phase for two household travel surveys, eligibility rate estimates for the sample units of unknown eligibility were calculated and used in the response rate formulas. It was found that the rates of eligibility for the sample units of unknown eligibility were higher than the eligibility rates for the units of known eligibility. These results were not expected and further confirm that agencies need to treat units of unknown eligibility carefully when calculating response rates

A Review of the Procedures Associated with Devising Emergency Evacuation Plans

The incidence of freak weather and geological events, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, has increased over the past thirty years. Coupled with an increase in the populations located in the path of these natural disasters, the imminent danger posed by naturally occurring phenomena has also risen. Given the potential dangers, it is wise for policy administrators to ensure that appropriate emergency plans are in place that aim to minimize the negative consequences associated with these disasters. Effective emergency planning and management should successfully combine the skills and knowledge of law enforcement agencies, transport planners as well as the knowledge and skills of emergency planning professionals. In Australia, there has not been a thorough investigation of the emergency impacts on the transport infrastructure nor have emergency plans adequately integrated the transportation aspect. Which transport routes should evacuees and emergency vehicles use is a question that needs to be answered urgently to avoid situations: · Where evacuees are trapped in their vehicles, · When emergency personnel are unable to gain access to the people in need, and · When emergency vehicles are not able to get onto the road network due to traffic congestion. Thus in a case of a suburban bush fire (wild fire), a fire that may have been easily extinguished or controlled is left to engulf more bush land and increase in ferocity. This paper critically assesses the many emergency evacuation models developed and also describes the important information required to devise the models. It is clear, however, that more research needs to be undertaken that specifically investigates the effects of a mass evacuation on current transport networks

Travel Behaviour of Seniors in an Aging Population: An Exploratory Study of Trip Chains and Modal Preferences in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Sydney

Three concurrent demographic shifts, the aging of the population, and increase in incomes and an increase in health of senior citizens, are likely to cause significant changes to travel demand structures. An increasing proportion of the population will have both relatively high levels of free time which afford the opportunity to undertake a range of activities and the financial and physical capability to carry out these activities. Hence, it is essential to understand how demand for private and public transport may evolve with respect to these fundamental demographic changes. This paper utilises travel demand data to examine this issue, highlighting the likelihood that, as the population continues to age, traffic demand is likely to increase across times of day, impacting the population as a whole through increases in the scope and scale of traffic congestion. A healthy, relatively older and relatively wealthy population is shown to be likely to continue its reliance on the private vehicle, contrary to a traditional belief that, as people age, their demand for travel wanes, along with their personal use of automobiles relative to the use of public transport

Environmental Justice Applications in Transport: The International Perspective

This paper focuses on the application of environmental justice principles specifically in the transport context. It begins by giving a background of the environmental justice movement and a definition, and proceeds to describe current legislative mandates in the United States. A holistic approach to transport planning is introduced to highlight the importance of the interrelationships between transport and land use planning. Current practices adopted in terms of environmental justice are illustrated from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission report as well as a description of the data limitations that result from the models used in current analyses. The paper concludes by providing some recommendations on the areas that need to be developed to address environmental justice principles adequately, and the applicability of these principles internationally

Dynamic Travel Demand for Emergency Evacuation: The Case of Bushfires

There are two types of emergencies; those which can be anticipated and those that cannot. Among those that can be anticipated are such events as cyclones, floods, bush fires, and tsunamis. When such events are anticipated, one course of action that may be taken is the evacuation of residents from a threatened area. When evacuation takes place, there often remains a need to provide access for emergency vehicles and personnel to the threatened area creating a conflict between the needs to maximise capacity for evacuation, while continuing to provide access to the threatened area. Relatively little is known about when residents will decide to evacuate. A model of evacuation behaviour is needed that would predict the proportions of the population that would leave within certain time periods, thus leading to the development of an evacuation travel demand model. Under a contract from Emergency Management Australia, the authors developed a method to predict evacuation decisions by residents from bush fires. This paper describes the methods used to determine when a household would evacuate, and describes the resulting model that predicts how many partial and full evacuations will take place by time period from when the emergency is first perceived

The Mobility and Accessibility Expectations of Seniors in an Aging Population

Populations of post-industrial nations are aging. With a growing number of people living well into their 80’s and maintaining active lives, the transportation system will have to start focussing more closely on understanding their mobility and accessibilty needs, so as to ensure that specific requirements of this large segment are not being ignored through the promotion of traditional ‘solutions’ and historical assumptions. This paper takes a close look at the evidence on the mobility needs and travel patterns of individuals over 64, distinguishing between the “young” elderly (aged 65 to 75 years) and the “old” elderly (over 75 years). This distinction is particularly useful in recognising the threshold of health change that impacts in a non-marginal way on mobility needs. This distinction also focuses transport planning and policy on a commitment to understanding the different needs of these subgroups of the population, identifying services and facilities that better cater for these groups. We review the evidence, in particular, on the mobility characteristics of the over 75 years age group, including how they secure support through migration and settlement patterns. We use the empirical evidence from a number of western nations to identify the role of conventional and specialised public transport as an alternative to the automobile in meeting mobility and accessibility needs

Evaluating Voluntary Travel Behaviour Interventions

Considerable interest in the policy of voluntary travel behaviour change interventions, known as by the generic name of TravelSmart®, has emerged. Measuring its effectiveness and determining its cost-benefit ratios is a major issue. Several difficulties arise in this process. First, it requires both a before and an after survey, sufficiently far apart to detect stable change in household travel behaviour. Second, it requires estimates of numbers of trips and activities, distance travelled by mode, time spent travelling by mode, and the modes of travel used. These are poorly reported in household travel surveys, introducing serious potentials for error in evaluation. Third, are issues relating to sample sizes to detect changes of the order of 5 to 10 percent in various travel behaviours, with acceptable accuracy. After discussing these issues in some detail, we describe a potential survey process, using GPS devices, that can overcome a number of the problems. We describe the information that can be obtained through the GPS and its associated prompted recall survey, demonstrating some of the benefits associated with this procedure. We conclude that evaluation is a significant issue that requires substantial funding to be done effectively, but that the GPS survey offers a high level of reliability in the information obtaine

Mobility patterns of the elderly tourist in Algarve

The present work is part of the Project for Scientific Research and Techno-logical Development "Accessibility for All in Tourism" focuses on modal in-terfaces designed according to the concepts of "Universal Design" and "Age Sensitive Design". In this project 851 surveys were carried out for elderly tourists, who arrived in Algarve (Portugal) through the international Airport of Faro, in the summer of 2018, with a view to understanding their prefer-ences and needs in terms of mobility. It presents the characterization of the senior tourist in Algarve, according to: gender, age, academic qualification, situation in the relation to the profession, nationality, disability and/or disa-bilities that affects mobility and the need to use technical aids to move. It analyses and compares, from the point of view of sustainable mobility, the mobility of the elderly tourist, by gender and age group, in the country where they reside and in the Algarve region. This information is useful for local au-thorities and for transport operators in order to make the mobility of elderly tourists, in Algarve, more sustainable from a social, economic and environ-mental standpoint.The Research Project ACCES4ALL - Accessibility for All in Tourisminfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio