Before-and-After Household Travel Surveys for Travel Behavior Change Project Evaluation

The Victorian Department of Infrastructure, as part of its long-term commitment to the development of sustainable transport policies and strategies, has taken a lead role in the implementation of large-scale TravelSmart programs. The objectives of these programs are ?to maximize sustainable travel and activity choices made by individuals, households and organizations through the utilization of voluntary behavior change tools?. In 2004, the Department conducted a large-scale community TravelSmart project in the local government area of Darebin, in the inner north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Approximately 27,000 households were contacted over several months in mid-2004, using the IndiMark technique. The Victorian 2004 TravelSmart project was subjected to a full independent evaluation using a variety of techniques. This paper describes the procedures used in the conduct of Before and After household travel surveys in March 2004 and March 2005. The survey methodology was based on a self-completion one-day travel diary questionnaire. This questionnaire was personally delivered to sampled households two days before their designated Travel Day and personally collected one day after their Travel Day. On the evening before their Travel day, households were phoned to remind them of their Travel Day and to motivate them to complete the survey. The paper describes the survey methodology, and provides details of the procedural outcomes of the Before and After surveys. Response rates of 51% and 65% were obtained in the Before and After surveys, respectively.