Household Trip Patterns and Travel Characteristics in Lethbridge, Alberta

This paper presents the results of the travel diary survey undertaken in Fall 2010 as part of the transportation master planning study in Lethbridge, Alberta. Travel diaries are invaluable in understanding the travel characteristics and patterns of the City's residents and identifying emerging trends. They provide a read on the effectiveness of the past transportation plans and programs and identify for planners what needs to be improved in the future to meet the area's transportation objectives. A total of 4,226 surveys were distributed (3,384 web, 642 mail-back and 201 onsite interviews with post-secondary students). The final number of eligible returns was 2,166 resulting in a 51% eligible return rate. The trip diary survey represents 5.29% of the study area's households (2,166 out of 40,949 households). In order to use the information to estimate trip totals by area and by time of day, the information was expanded to represent the total target population (ie. the total number of households in the study area). The household socio-economic characteristics indicated a close resemblance with Lethbridge Census data, which validates the sampling. The paper includes the sampling techniques, survey methodology, and a detailed analysis of results, and findings of the survey. For the covering asbtract of this conference see record control number 201111RT334E.