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Executive Summary
T
he U.S. transportation system serves hundreds of millions of
travelers and handles millions of tons of freight each day to help
ensure the efficient movement of people and goods in support
of personal goals and domestic and international commerce. A well-
functioning transportation system is essential for business travel and
tourism, yet no national data have been collected on long-distance, inter-
city passenger travel by surface transportation modes since 1995. A strong
economy depends on state and regional investments in freight corridors
to keep freight moving, but industry-based data on freight shipments,
focused on supply chain linkages and local goods movement, are not col-
lected. Only coarse national-level data are available on intercity commodity
flows. Increased energy efficiency and reductions in greenhouse gas emis-
sions from vehicular travel are being sought to reduce the transportation
sector’s adverse environmental impacts, but data on vehicle use necessary
to monitor progress are no longer being collected.
Good travel data1 are essential to support critical policy choices and
multimillion dollar investments facing decision makers. Unfortunately,
as the previous examples demonstrate, the travel data available today
are inadequate to meet this demand. The most comprehensive data are
collected by the federal government in periodic surveys. However, coverage
1. Travel data are defined broadly to include origin-to-destination flows, their characteristics—purpose of
passenger and freight movements, attributes of travelers and commodities being moved, costs and travel
times, and impacts (e.g., on congestion and the environment)—and the characteristics of the infrastructure
on which these flows take place.
1
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2 How We Travel: A Sustainable National Program for Travel Data
of these surveys is incomplete, sample sizes frequently are insufficient to
support meaningful analyses, and the results often are not timely. Moreover,
funding for these surveys is subject to shifting political priorities, not
infrequently putting them at risk for cancellation.
This study assesses the current state of travel data at the federal, state,
and local levels and defines an achievable and sustainable travel data system
that can support public and private transportation decision making. The
primary goal is to develop a strategy for structuring, conducting, and fund-
ing the collection of critical travel data. The study is national in scope, recog-
nizing that travel data are collected and used at multiple geographic levels
and by multiple sectors. It covers all travel modes, with a focus on measuring
the performance of the transportation system as a whole. The results are
directed to Congress; senior leaders and data program managers at the
U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) and other federal agencies;
states; metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs); other transportation
authorities; and firms that collect, analyze, and disseminate travel data.
Collection of travel data is a shared responsibility among various admin-
istrations within U.S. DOT and other federal agencies. The states, MPOs,
and the private sector also collect travel data, primarily for their own uses.
These disparate data collection activities do not constitute a coherent
national program to meet decision-making needs. A well-integrated
National Travel Data Program is needed to guide transportation policies
and investments at all levels. The following paragraphs provide a brief
overview of the committee’s recommendations for achieving such a
program; details are presented in the concluding chapter of this report.
To support the wise use of public resources for transportation, par-
ticularly in a time of slow growth and massive budget deficits, a National
Travel Data Program should be organized and sustained; built on a core of
essential travel data whose collection is sponsored at the federal level; and
well coordinated with travel data collected by states, MPOs, transit agencies,
and the private sector (see Figure ES-1). Logically, the responsibility for
leading this effort must reside with U.S. DOT, despite its past failures to
develop a comprehensive and effective travel data program, because these
data are essential to its mission. The Secretary of Transportation should
assume a strong leadership role, with program design and coordination
being carried out by the Research and Innovative Technology Adminis-
tration (RITA) and its Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the
federal statistical agency for transportation, which already has a data
collection and coordination mandate.
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Executive Summary 3
National
Travel Data
Program
U.S. DOT
Advisory
Secretary of Transportation
Council
Other Federal RITA/BTS: Coordinating U.S. DOT Modal
Agencies Functions Administrations
National Travel Data:
Core Federal Data Collection
Passenger Travel Freight Travel
Data Component Data Component
• Next-generation NHTS • Next-generation CFS
State, MPO, and
• Intercity passenger • Supply chain survey
Other Local
travel survey • International freight
Agency (e.g.,
• International travel data
transit) Travel
passenger travel data • Local operations
Data
Private-Sector • National panel survey surveys (linked to but
• Shares data
Travel Data not part of federal
collection
• Shares data program)
• Adds on to
collection
federal surveys
• Provides and/or Other National Travel Data
• Provides state,
sells private • VIUS for all vehicles
regional, and
travel data to • Modal travel data
local data for
the public
integration with
sector Partnerships with States, MPOs and Other
national data
Local Agencies, and the Private Sector
Data Development and Management
• Data design and development
• Data clearinghouse and archiving function
• Data analysis, product development, quality
assurance, and dissemination
FIGURE ES-1 Schematic of a national travel data program. (Note: BTS = Bureau
of Transportation Statistics; CFS = Commodity Flow Survey; MPO = metropolitan
planning organization; NHTS = National Household Travel Survey; RITA = Research
and Innovative Technology Administration; U.S. DOT = U.S. Department of
Transportation; VIUS = Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey.)
If this effort is to be successful, the committee estimates that sustained
funding on the order of $150–200 million is needed over the next decade to
support the core National Travel Data Program data collection activities
across U.S. DOT. The proposed funding—$15–20 million annually, on
average—represents a sustained annual increase of about $9–14 million
over current annual federal spending of about $6 million on travel data.
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4 How We Travel: A Sustainable National Program for Travel Data
Additional funds are needed for BTS to fulfill its data coordination role,
and increased set-asides for data collection by states and MPOs are
essential to ensure effective collaboration among these partners. The next
reauthorization of the surface transportation legislation offers the opportu-
nity to secure the funding, building on the need for better data to support
performance-based decision making. With billions of dollars at stake, the
investment of this modest increment in funding to ensure better outcomes is
both necessary and prudent.
A national travel data program cannot continue to rely solely on tradi-
tional, periodic, large-scale surveys. Declining rates of response to voluntary
surveys threaten their validity, and conducting large, periodic surveys makes
data collection less efficient and creates cost spikes that can become targets
for budget cutting. RITA, in collaboration with its data partners, should
invest aggressively in research and testing of new methods—including
continuous data collection and greater use of technology—for data collection,
integration, management, and dissemination.
Current federal travel data programs do not adequately meet the needs
of their customers, who are widely dispersed and lack a systematic mech-
anism for voicing their needs. This situation undermines the development
of a strong constituency to support a National Travel Data Program. A
National Travel Data Program Advisory Council, broadly representing
major travel data constituencies, should be formed to provide strategic
advice directly to the Secretary of Transportation.
U.S. DOT, in collaboration with its partners, should move quickly to
develop a multiyear plan defining action steps, roles and responsibilities,
and milestones to manage and track the development and implementation
of the program, and report biennially to Congress on the progress of the
effort. Such a plan is critical to assure Congress, U.S. DOT’s data partners,
and constituents that the National Travel Data Program is moving ahead.
The nation depends on its transportation system. Managing the
performance of this system depends on good data, the foundation for
prudent and sound decisions. U.S. DOT should seize the opportunity to
make substantial improvements in national travel data to support more
effective management of the transportation system.
