"STATISTICS OF UNDERSTANDING" FOR DEMAND MANAGEMENT TRANSPORT PLANNING: THE SYDNEY HOUSEHOLD TRAVEL SURVEY

Travel demand in Sydney and most other major cities continues to grow strongly at a rate greater than the growth in population. Active and more complex lifestyles of the population result in more trips and longer trips. This increasing travel activity puts pressure on the supply of infrastructure, creating congestion and increased travel times, and pressure on the environment with increased noise and air pollution. In the past the role of transport planning was to provide the infrastructure to cater for the continually growing demand. Now the emphasis has shifted to managing that demand and to attempting to redress the imbalance in the use of the infrastructure between public and private transport. Managing demand requires an understanding of the demand for travel beyond that previously found in basic travel demand forecasts. The Household Travel Survey conducted by the New South Wales Department of Transport on a continuous basis since June 1997 provides detailed, comprehensive data on the travel patterns of selected households in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Region. The HTS, which uses a travel diary, face to face interview methodology, provides very detailed data on person and household trip patterns. This paper analyses the data from the first wave (1997/98) of that survey to give an understanding of the market segments for travel and the factors that influence the travel decision. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD E200461.