U.S. transportation policy making, planning, and research rely on data from surveys of personal travel and goods movement. Survey data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) support transportation decision making by all levels of government and by transportation-related associations, private businesses, and consumers. This report offers guidance to BTS on the bureau's portfolio of transportation surveys. The authoring committee recommends BTS actions to increase the effectiveness of the flagship National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) and the Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) in meeting the needs of the range of data users. The report also presents approaches that BTS and its partners should adopt in developing more effective survey methods and in addressing institutional issues that affect survey stability and quality. The report is organized in four chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction. The three major BTS surveys that the committee reviewed--the NHTS, the CFS, and the Omnibus Survey Program--are described briefly in Chapter 2, and the committee's assessments of each of these surveys are summarized. The detailed findings and recommendations are given in the letter reports reproduced in Appendixes A, B, and C. The committee's conclusions on major themes and crosscutting issues relevant to BTS's current survey programs are presented in Chapter 3. The committee's recommendations for making these surveys more effective in meeting the needs of a broad spectrum of data users are presented in Chapter 4. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting