LOS ANGELES ― The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is supporting a statewide survey of California residents’ travel patterns as part of an effort to help plan for future transportation investments. The comprehensive survey is a partnership among Caltrans, the California Air Resources Board, the California Energy Commission, and all 18 Metropolitan Planning Organizations in California, including SCAG. The results from the California Household Travel Survey (CHTS) will help inform decision-makers on ways to improve the travel options available to Californians.
The purpose of the survey is to clearly understand Californians’ travel needs and patterns and ensure that taxpayers’ funds are invested in transportation projects that are designed to reduce congestion and increase options that improve the quality of life and the business climate. SCAG is contributing funding to the statewide effort to increase the survey size within the SCAG region. A portion of the respondents within the SCAG region will also be asked to participate in follow-up surveys to gather additional information specific to the SCAG region. In total, approximately 25,000 SCAG area households are being surveyed.
A randomly selected sample of California households will be contacted asking for their participation in the Survey. If a contacted household chooses to participate, an independent survey firm, NuStats or Abt-SRBI, will ask questions about their household, including some initial questions about their travel habits. After answering the initial household questions, respondents will be sent travel diaries for all household members to complete on an assigned travel date. Household members will fill out the travel diaries indicating the places they went and the times they traveled, as well as how they got to and from each location and the purpose of the trip. To accommodate everyone’s busy schedule, survey participants may provide their travel information via telephone, Internet, or mail.
All information collected will be strictly confidential. The data will be used for planning and research purposes only, will be summarized to census tract level and will not contain name or contact information.
The Survey will be conducted over one year, beginning February 2012 and concluding February 2013. For additional information, please visit: http://www.SoCalTravelSurvey.org or http://www.catravelsurvey.com..
