This paper was presented at the `Managing Change in and Era of Scarce Resources' session. One of the issues that arises in determining the most effective way of allocating scarce resources is having sound information to support the recommendations that are made to decision makers. While reliable information is needed to develop and monitor the effectiveness of policies and programs, often one of the first areas considered for cuts is data collection. This requires that researchers make better use of information that is already being collected by others and that they coordinate their efforts. This paper looks at the efforts by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and municipalities to work together to develop planning and policy information from the Census Place-of-Work question since the 1986 Census. MTO coordinated the formation of provincial/municipal partnerships in both 1986 and 1991 to share the costs for coding the Place-of-Work question from the Census to the sub-municipal level. The ability to link commuting informatinon to the full range of socioeconomic and demographic variables make the Census a unique source of information for both transportation and urban planners. The experience in Ontario demonstrates that by sharing costs and making good use of new computer technology it is possible to continue to access valuable information, even when faced with fiscal restraint. (A)
Samenvatting