Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MTC May Need You

Bay Area Travel Survey Recruits Participants

CONTACT:

Marjorie Blackwell
510.464.7884

Kenneth Vaughn
510.464.7853

OAKLAND, Calif., February 3, 2000 . . . If you or someone you know receives a phone call requesting participation in the Bay Area Travel Survey, don't assume it's another pesky telemarketer and hang up. That's the request of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which is sponsoring an important study of Bay Area residents' travel patterns. The survey is part of MTC's planning efforts to improve the region's road and transit systems. Information will be collected from 15,000 Bay Area households by a survey research firm, MORPACE International, beginning in early February and extending through November.

The survey data will be used to develop statistical models of future travel patterns. According to MTC Executive Director Lawrence D. Dahms, "By understanding how, why and where people make their daily trips, planners and public officials can make better use of our increasingly scarce resources. Having current information on residents' activities and travel is crucial to making wise decisions on future transportation investments, whether they be for transit, highways, bicycle or pedestrian options.

"Because we are sampling only a small percentage of the 2.4 million Bay Area households," Dahms said, "everyone who participates will be playing an important role in helping shape our transportation policy and investment decisions." Participants in the survey will be selected at random from each of the nine Bay Area counties. They will be recruited in telephone interviews by MORPACE staff, who will question heads of households about their household characteristics and their willingness to participate in this study. If they agree to take part, participants then will be mailed an information packet that includes household activity diaries. Household members will be asked to record their activities and trips in the diaries during an assigned two-day period. Participants must keep continuous records of their activities, with no gaps in time. After the diaries are completed, the participants will be debriefed in a second phone interview and also asked to return their diaries by mail.

All of the information collected will be strictly confidential and used for research purposes only.

The $1.5 million MTC travel survey project will overlap with the 2000 U.S. Census, which will begin collecting data in April. "By conducting our survey this year, we can capitalize on having a good, recent set of demographic data provided by the Census," Vaughn said. "Our data will complement and augment the Census' journey-to-work figures on Bay Area commute habits. By using Census data, our survey analysts can weight and expand travel survey data to more accurately reflect the region's entire population. We will complete a preliminary analysis of our data in 2001 and then compare it to the Census data when it becomes available."

MTC – the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county Bay Area – has conducted similar Bay Area travel surveys in 1981, 1990 and 1996. MORPACE, Inc. is an international survey research firm based in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Phone inquiries about the survey may be directed to the firm at 1.800.566.6252 or e-mail to <surveyhelp@morpace.com>.

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