Household travel survey

The household travel survey is the main component of the monitoring process. It involves the collection of travel data for the site, against which baseline or prior survey data is then compared.

The household travel survey aims to gather basic information about residents as well as capturing a 'snapshot' of travel to and from the site over a 24 hour period. The survey process takes approximately two weeks, and includes raising awareness of the survey, the survey day itself and waiting for residents to return completed surveys.

The steps for carrying out the survey are shown below. All of the required forms are available for download within the 'downloads' box at right.
 

The survey paperwork includes two forms to be completed by residents: the Household Information Form (HIF) (.pdf, 120Kb) and the Personal Travel Diary (PTD) (.pdf, 93Kb). The HIF collects information on the residential unit, the residents and the travel options available to them. The PTD records the trips to and from the development on the survey day by each resident. One HIF should be completed for each residential unit and each resident should complete a PTD.

Some tips for undertaking the household travel survey are provided below:

• Survey days should be a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Weeks with bank holidays should be avoided, as should the school holidays. The letters, motivation and reminder cards should be edited to reflect the date, incentive and survey collection method for the survey.
• Materials can either be posted or hand-delivered. If materials are to be posted, additional time must be factored into the timescales to accommodate delivery times.
• The motivation and reminder cards should not be enclosed in envelopes.
• The HIF and PTD cannot be edited. This ensures that all surveys carried out across London are comparable. The HIF and PID forms need to be labelled to allow for survey responses to be tracked. The label used for each unit should be noted, to allow for the distribution of incentives. 
• The response rate should be calculated seven days after the survey day. The response rate is calculated as the proportion of households that have returned a completed HIF with at least one accompanying PTD.
• The borough officer should be notified of the response rate achieved to date. If the target response rate has been achieved, the borough officer will instruct that no further surveys efforts are required. If the target response rate has not been achieved, the survey process must be repeated for non-responding household.

Incentives

The use of a survey incentive is strongly advised. Including an incentive will increase the survey response rate, helping to ensure that the required response rate is met.

Incentives should appeal widely to the targeted survey audience, to minimise the chance that a bias might be created. High street vouchers are recommended, with the number of vouchers available dependent on the size of the development. A basic guideline would be a prize draw of one £25 voucher per 75 residential units.

Survey collection methods

A number of methods can be used to collect completed surveys. In any case, the method should be clearly stated to residents to minimise any confusion.

The survey methodology includes visiting each unit to collect completed survey forms the day after the survey. This needs to be supplemented with at least one of the following:

• Collection box. Can be placed in a common area. A collection box should be secure and clearly labelled. Most appropriate for flats.
• Free-post. Survey materials include a free-post envelope to return completed survey materials.
• Return to on-site management office. If a management office is on-site, or if there is a post-box for the management company, envelopes can be provided with materials to allow for residents to return the survey forms directly to management.