Transport researchers and planners in recent times have increasingly recognised that survey methods used to collect travel information can significantly affect the quality and nature of data obtained. One area of particular concern has been the collection of personal travel movement data for use in urban transport planning. The traditional means of gathering this information, the transportation study home interview survey, has been criticised on grounds which relate both to the accuracy and scope of data collected. Research presented in this paper concentrates on an area of potentially critical deficiency with this data, namely, under-reporting of travel. The first part of the paper contains a fairly comprehensive review of 'screenline count' and 'on board survey' evidence of trip under-reporting in Australian transportation study home interview surveys. The second part of the paper focuses attention on one transportation study home interview survey and presents detailed comparisons between this and an activity diary survey. The conclusion to emerge from both types of evidence is that trip under-reporting in transportation study home interview surveys is often severe and systematic. The final substantive section therefore contains a discussion of the implications of trip under-reporting for research and planning studies which use this data. (Author/publisher) for the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 286978.
Abstract