How We Travel A Sustainable National Program for Travel Data (2011) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix E Current Data Programs for Monitoring Passenger Travel and Freight Movement
Appendix E Current Data Programs for Monitoring Passenger Travel and Freight Movement
Pages 137-160
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From page 137... ...
. Building blocks for a national picture of local travel include the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS)
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, tourism surveys conducted by the private sector, and air carrier traffic statistics (discussed in the section on data programs for monitoring both passenger travel and freight movement)
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In addition to issues of funding stability, the NHTS faces the increasing challenge of low response rates. Data collection conducted primarily through landline telephone surveys yielded only a 23 percent response rate to the initial recruitment for the 2009 survey, a sharp decline from the 56 percent response rate for the 2001 NHTS.2,3 U.S.
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Through 2000, these data were drawn from the long form of the decennial census of population and housing; more recently, they have been drawn from the continuous American Community Survey. Initially collected in the 1960 census to support the definition of metropolitan areas by the Office of Management and Budget, Journey to Work data provided through the CTPP support regional and local transportation planning with geographically detailed information on where people live and work, how they get to work, and when they depart for work (Pisarski 2006)
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Today, the NTD, for which the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is responsible, is the primary national database of statistics on the finances, operations, and service characteristics of more than 700 transit providers in urbanized areas across the United States and more than 1,300 transit providers in nonurbanized areas (FTA 2009)
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, household travel surveys and other data collection activities of MPOs are eligible for funding from both federal highway and federal transit programs. Surveys are conducted to support travel demand models used for regional transportation plans, corridor studies, and the development of major projects.
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The ATS data are more than 15 years old but are the only national source of publicly available information on passenger travel by surface transportation modes to support analyses of intercity transportation. Survey of International Air Travelers OTTI has conducted a survey of international air travelers since the early 1980s.
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for a sample of aircraft flying between the United States and foreign destinations.13 To adjust for over- and undersampling, survey observations are weighted to census data from Immigration and Customs forms that regulate inbound and outbound visitors.14 The surveys seek to obtain representative data on all international air travel.15 Given the complex combinations of carriers, origin–destination pairs, airports, and flights, however, this coverage is not always feasible; thus, the focus is on the top 20 origin countries. Survey data on travel within the United States are most important from a transportation perspective.
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Other National Surveys Containing Personal Travel Data Several other surveys are conducted in which transportation data are gathered for the purpose of comprehensiveness, not to meet a specific transportation need. Three such surveys are reviewed here: the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX)
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These and other similar surveys provide opportunities for expanded transportation applications. Consumer Expenditure Survey Data for the CEX are collected through a direct interview and a detailed diary kept by selected households to facilitate recall of those expenditures easily overlooked.
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Recognizing this link, the Bureau of Labor Statistics joins the two surveys in its website presentation. The ways in which people spend time are important to transportation analysts and modelers not just because they constitute travel time information such as the time spent in traveling to recreation, but also because transportation modeling is increasingly focused on activity-based models that tie travel to the actual activities in which people engage.23 The use of this survey is in its infancy, and it could become increasingly significant to transportation analysts.
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, described below, provides a national picture of freight movement among states and regions, integrating data from the Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) , the Transborder Freight Data Program and foreign trade statistics, the rail Carload Waybill Sample, and Waterborne Commerce Statistics.
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Although responses are mandatory, the response rate was 83.1 percent for the 2007 survey.27 Respondents often complain about the burden of reporting. National data are available 2 years after the survey year.28 The CFS is criticized for its small sample size, which is inadequate to support desired geographic detail; its lack of timeliness; its gaps in coverage; and its lack of information on supply chains.
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Transborder Freight Data Program and Foreign Trade Statistics The North American Transborder Freight Database was developed in response to the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by the United States, Canada, and Mexico in late 1992 to help monitor trade flows among these countries.
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Rail Carload Waybill Sample The railroad industry reports data on rail freight shipments to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) , which replaced the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1995 (the industry was partially deregulated in 1980)
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The contractor also creates a public-use file -- the Public Use Waybill Sample -- available for download on the STB website at no cost.36 The data include origin and destination points, types of commodities shipped (aggregated to the five-digit Standard Transportation Commodity Code [STCC] level)
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Private Sources of Freight Data Shippers and carriers maintain significant amounts of data on freight movements for their own uses and sometimes share that data with consultants and trade associations. Two private sources with long histories include TRANSEARCH and PIERS.
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Nevertheless, users must accept on faith the validity of the results, particularly at the county level. Port Import Export Reporting Service Launched more than 30 years ago by the Journal of Commerce, now a division of UBM Global Trade, PIERS collects data on imports and exports.44 Import information is gathered from vessel manifests and from U.S.
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These programs include the air carrier traffic statistics, the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) , and the Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey (VIUS)
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SP&R funds are available to fund data collection by the states, which also use their own funds. FHWA provides about $400,000 annually for system development and support, performed by about five FTEs.49,50 FHWA uses HPMS data in its biennial Condition and Performance Report to Congress, in the calculation of apportionment formulas for federal highway funds (a strong incentive for states to provide the data)
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Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey The VIUS was launched by the Census Bureau in 1963 as the Truck Inventory and Use Survey and was conducted every 5 years from 1967 through 2002. The 2002 VIUS included typical configurations, weights, fuel usage and economy, miles traveled, economic activity served, commodities carried, and other characteristics for a sample of 130,000 trucks, vans, minivans, and sport utility vehicles drawn from state registration files.
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References Abbreviations BTS Bureau of Transportation Statistics CNSTAT Committee on National Statistics CTRE Center for Transportation Research and Education FHWA Federal Highway Administration FTA Federal Transit Administration NDC Navigation Data Center OTTI Office of Travel and Tourism Industries PIERS Port Import Export Reporting Service STB Surface Transportation Board TRB Transportation Research Board U.S. Army Corps of Engineers USACE
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2009. The National Transit Database: Passenger Travel Data.
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In Transportation Research Circular E-C088: Commodity Flow Survey Conference. Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C.
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