The majority of previous work on trip rates for small towns has focused on developing specialized tools and methodologies appropriate to the data and analysis resources available for small towns. It is often the case that little or no resources are available for targeted surveys in small towns, so several researchers have developed tools geared for use in a particular state for these situations. These tools consist of models based on statewide data, or software components suitable for particular DOT requirements. This report focuses on small towns surrounding urban centers. Our goal is to identify situations where data tools and national average values originally intended for larger cities can be used for small towns. Much research and effort has gone into planning for large cities, and we hope to maximize the value of that work by applying it as broadly as possible. We have analyzed recent survey data from the region surrounding Charlotte, North Carolina. This paper presents a classification scheme which identifies small towns that can safely use data tools from larger cities. The travel behavior in one class of these towns proves to be much like that of a larger city. We explore the limits of local data transferability based on this class, and identify conditions where local data transfer loses its advantage over other methods. We test the use of national data averages for certain small towns and verify that there are conditions where those averages are valuable.
Abstract