Travel surveys provide information on travel behavior characteristics that are essential for travel demand modeling and transportation planning in general.

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Survey Update: Fall 2011

The 2010/11 Regional Travel Survey being undertaken by NYMTC and NJTPA is currently in its data collection phase. Travel data is being collected from households across 28 counties in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. To-date, travel data has been collected from more than 16,000 households, out of a final goal of 18,800 households. This phase of the project is scheduled for completion this fall. The final dataset should be available by next spring once the data has been cleaned, weighted, and expanded. Participation in the survey, while not mandatory, will help provide key travel statistics for the region, and help plan future transportation investments. For more information visit www.regionaltravelsurvey.org/
On January 9-10, 2008 NYMTC and UTRC held a workshop on Contemporary Issues in Household Travel Survey Design and Management. This workshop included speakers from Washington D.C., Portland, New York, Atlanta, and Seattle. As NYMTC prepares for the upcoming Regional Household Travel Survey, the workshop helped to inform NYMTC members and partners of the key issues in household travel surveys.
The GPS Pilot Project examines whether incorporating Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technologies into the upcoming NYMTC Household Travel Survey efforts will provide a cost-effective person-based strategy for collecting both passive and active travel behavior data.

The 1997/1998 Regional Travel Household Interview Survey (RT-HIS) (updated using 2000 Census information) was conducted by NYMTC to record daily travel activities in the New York Metropolitan Area. The purpose of the survey was to gather information suitable for gaining an in-depth understanding of the travel behavior of households including individuals within households, their travel activities, demographics and other factors that affect travel in the New York Metropolitan Area. The survey provides estimates for a range of travel measures used in transportation planning analysis for the NYMTC region and it was used for the development of NYMTC’s Best Practice Model.

Public Use Files

2003 Update (with weights from Census 2000), files in this folder have been stripped of all attributes that could be used to identify a survey participant:

  1. Raw Data Files folder (*.sav) – These SPSS files are in the original file structure as delivered from NuStats Consulting (who conducted the survey) in 1998. There are individual files of the households (HH_PUD.sav), persons (PER_PUD.sav), locations (LOC_PUD.sav), vehicles (VEH_PUD.sav), trips (PLAC_PUD.sav), and data audits (AUDIT.sav). These files do not have weights attached. The weights can be found in the files in the Analysis Files folder, and should be attached to these basic files using the SAMPNO field (Household Sample Number).
    DOWNLOAD ZIPPED FOLDER WITH FILES     (5.3MB)

  2. Analysis Files folder (HH_4DR.sav, PER_3DR.sav, TRIP_6DR_PUD.sav) – These are SPSS files created by Parsons Consulting to create individual trip records, with traveler and household characteristics attached. The 2000 Census weights are found in the WHT_1 and EXP_1 fields. The TRIP_6DR_PUD.sav file is probably the most useful, as it combines all information about particular trips from the other files (households, persons, trips, and locations) into one record, and there are many of “value added” variables that the consultants created that make analysis easier. DOWNLOAD ZIPPED FOLDER WITH FILES (18MB)
The National Household Travel Survey (NHTS formerly NPTS), is the nation’s inventory of daily and long-distance travel. The NHTS provides vital data on American passenger travel and is used to examine the relationship between social demographic change, land development patterns, and transportation. The 2001 NHTS collected information similar to surveys conducted in 1969, 1977, 1983, 1990, and 1995 and sampled approximately 66,000 households across the country. 13,423 households were included from New York State to enhance the national survey and provide a detailed summarization of the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). For more information on the 1995 and 2001 New York State add-on visit NYSDOT | National Household Travel Survey.
The Census Transportation Planning Package 2000 (CTPP 2000) provides organizations with accurate and comprehensive data to make informed decisions. CTPP contains tabulations of households, individuals, and employment and worker data and summarizes the information by place of residence, by place of work, and for worker-flows between home and work. Transportation planners use CTPP data to: Evaluate existing conditions, Develop or update travel demand models, and Analyze demographic and travel trends.

Other travel survey related sites include: