NATIONWIDE PERSONAL TRANSPORTATION STUDY: EXPERIENCES WITH PREVIOUS SURVEYS AND OPTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

The National Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS) is a survey of travel patterns of U.S. households, with a focus on the amount and nature of travel activity. The survey provides a benchmark of travel activity and a measure of the impact of selected demographic factors on travel patterns. The survey was conducted in 1969, 1977, and 1983, with the next survey in the series scheduled for 1988. The surveys conducted to date have been home-interview surveys, but there are current plans to conduct a telephone survey in 1988. Some of the factors pointing to the use of a telephone survey are (a) decreased cost per interview, (b) expanded sample size, (c) centralized interviewing, and (d) the capability of on-line editing. Balancing these advantages are concerns of comparability with the previous surveys, biases inherent in telephone surveys, and whether the overall length and complexity of the data are appropriate for telephone interviewing. Despite these concerns, the telephone methodology will most likely be used for the next NPTS. Telephone surveys are the predominant method of conducting travel surveys today, probably because they provide acceptable response rates at a low unit cost and have the benefit of personal contact with the household.