Standards for Household Travel Surveys-Some Proposals

Abstract

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.