130510-NTS Presentation To Eurostat - 17 June 2013

Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 32

National Travel Survey

Great Britain

Presentation to Eurostat
17 June 2013

Lyndsey Melbourne
Department for Transport, UK
Agenda
 Background to the ‘National Travel
Survey (NTS)’ in Great Britain
 Sample design, training & fieldwork
 Data collection
 Data linking
 Weighting
 Publication / Users of NTS data
 Future of the NTS (inc. GPS pilot)
 Questions
Background to the NTS
 Large household survey
 First survey in 1965. Continuous since 1988
 National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) became
the contractor in 2002
 Sample size tripled in 2002 to allow single year analysis
 Overall response rate is around 60% each year
 achieved: n = 8k households, 19k people
 Weighted for non response since 1995
 All household members, including children
Continuous survey
 The UK Government commissioned the first NTS in
1965/1966, and it was repeated on an ad-hoc basis in
1972/1973, 1975/1976, 1978/1979, and 1985/1986.
 In July 1988, the NTS became a continuous survey (i.e.
fieldwork was conducted on a monthly basis). Advantages:
 Up-to-date evidence available for policy development and
monitoring travel trends
 Lower set-up costs
 Higher quality data – interviewer expertise retained, higher
response rates
Why is the NTS important?
Measures long-term trends in personal travel
behaviour within Great Britain
Index: 1972/73 = 100 Trips Time spent travelling Distance travelled
170

160

150

140

130

120

110

100

90
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Source: NTS 2011
Why is the NTS important?
The only national data source available to answer key
questions on:
How? Walk, cycle, bus, car, train…
Why? Commute, travel to school,
shopping…
Who? Children, elderly, low/high incomes,
with/without a car,

Very detailed dataset, allowing analysis of travel patterns by


different groups
How is data collected?
 Placement and pick-up interview (CAPI)
7 day travel diary
Sample design
Stratified two-stage random probability sample of 15,048
private households in Great Britain, drawn from the
Postcode Address File (PAF)
 Stratified by region, car ownership and population density

684 Primary sampling units (PSUs) sampling 22


addresses each

57 PSUs assigned per month

London PSUs are over-sampled as response rates tend


to be much lower
Training and liaison
Two day briefing for all new interviewers

Annual ‘refresher’ briefings for all interviewers held in


November/December each year in each region of the
country

Monthly liaison meetings between DfT and NatCen


project managers. Discuss monthly response rates,
quality indicators, any issues, etc
Fieldwork
Advance letters sent by interviewers at start of month.
Includes a book of 1st class stamps (incentive).
Interviewers make contact with households by personal
visit.
Arrange time/date for face-to-face placement interview.
Travel Week Allocation Card used to ensure even spread
of diary start dates.
Mid-week check (half way through travel week).
Pick-up interview (within 6 days of end of Travel week).
£5 gift card for ‘fully responding’ households (incentive).
Interview Data:
household, individual, vehicle
Household data e.g: Individual data e.g:
household structure, age, gender,
vehicle availability, employment, education,
access to key services, driving licence, bicycle own,
satisfaction with transport, ticket types/passes,
income, shopping frequency of travel by mode,
Vehicle data e.g: working from home,
Registration number, age, travel difficulties,
engine size, fuel type, make &
road accidents
model, company/private, mileage,
parking, SatNav
Diary Data:
Travel information
For each trip: purpose
start/end time
origin/destination
mode (for each stage)
time
distance
number in party
cost

Day 7: short walks (less than 1 mile)


Long Distance Journeys (LDJs)

LDJs – trips of 50 miles and over within GB

Collected in the diary and during the interview

Collected over longer time period (recall)


– 3 weeks 1992 to 2005
– 1 week from 2006
Mileage card
Vehicle mileage in
travel week recorded
for each vehicle

Start and end


milometer readings
Data structure
Why is the survey so detailed?
There is a need for information at the following levels
to be able to answer particular questions:
 Household
 Individual
 Vehicle
 Trip
 Stage

 How many trips are made per individual per year


in households with no car, 1 car and 2+ cars?
 What is the annual car mileage in the lowest and
highest income households?
Data linking - Vehicles
Vehicle registration number matched to
DVLA database to obtain:
– Month & year registration, e.g. April 2010 (used to derive
age)
– Make and model, e.g. VOLKSWAGEN POLO 1.4 CL
– Length, e.g. 3715 mm
– Engine Size, e.g. 1390 cc
– CO2, e.g. 205 g
– Propulsion Type, e.g. petrol
High quality data & reduces respondent burden

In future we may use the MOT test database


to obtain annual mileage
– Odometer readings are recorded annually as part of test
– Only for vehicles over 3 yrs old
Data linking - Address
Household address is matched to the Postcode
Directory to obtain:
– Urban/rural classification
– Settlement size
– Index of Multiple Deprivation
– Socio-demographic classifications

In future we will link addresses to GIS and travel time


datasets to obtain:
– Walk time to nearest bus stop, train station, etc
– Journey time (by mode of transport) to key services, e.g.
hospital, supermarket, school, etc
Data linking - Gazetteer
Diary data: origin and destination of
each trip is coded to a geographic
location using a Gazetteer.

LDJ information from interview:


origin and destination.

Work place location.


Weighting
Weighting methodology developed in 2005 and
applied to NTS data back to 1995

Weights adjust for:


 non-response bias
 trip recording drop-off
 Long Distance Journey interview data
NTS Technical Report

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/36548/nts2011-technical.pdf
NTS Statistical Release
www.gov.uk

Also publish NTS


factsheets on a
range of subjects
including
Commuting &
business travel,
Walking and
Travel to school
Travel behaviour in 2011
(compared with 1972/73)

958
trips per person 364
per year
+0.2%
hours spent
travelling pppy
6,826 miles
+3%
distance travelled
pppy
+53%
Recent uses within DfT
 High Speed 2 – NTS data underpins DfT modelling tools which
contributed to the economic business case.
NTS results were included in support materials, e.g. leaflet showing
charts of trend in long-distance rail travel and socio-economic profile of
rail travellers.

 Analysis in support of the Government’s 2010 Spending Review and


the 2012 Autumn Statement, notably in highlighting the ‘distributional’
impact of proposals on different social groups

 Monitoring a broad range of transport policy indicators, including


walking and cycling rates, private and company car mileage,
concessionary bus pass take-up & usage, driver licence holding, travel
to school, etc.
Other users of the NTS
 Central Government:  Cyclist Touring Club
Department for …  Sustrans
– Environment, Food & Rural  RAC & AA & Motorcycle Industry
Affairs Association
– Energy & Climate change  Car companies
– Health  Campaign for Better Transport
– Education  Passenger Transport Executives
 The Treasury & HMRC  Passenger Focus
 Scottish Government & Welsh  Energy Saving Trust
Assembly  Age UK
 Competition Commission  Commission for Rural Communities
 Transport for London  Developers/planners
 Transport Select Committee &  Consultancies/Academics (often working
Parliamentary Advisory Council for for local authorities or other government
Transport Safety departments)
 Various county councils & local
authorities
On the Move Report, RAC Foundation
(3 December 2012 )

“The analysis reported here


has drawn mainly on National
Travel Survey (NTS) data,
which, with its seven-day
travel diary dataset, provides
a unique source of
information that is well suited
to such in-depth analysis; it
would not have been possible
to uncover the insights
presented in this report using
any other existing
dataset....”

http://www.racfoundation.org/research/mobility/on-the-move-main-research-page
Future of the NTS
Public consultation on the future design of the NTS:
June-Sept 2011
The proposals covered four areas:
 Moving to a GPS methodology
 Reducing the length of the questionnaire
 Geographic coverage
 Amending the methodology of the survey to make cost savings.
GPS data collection pilot
Drivers were:
 Reducing respondent burden & costs
 Improving data quality
 Modernising methods
GPS data collection pilot
Mobitest GPS logger with accelerometer;
Collected data from nearly 900
respondents aged 12+, in Feb & March
2011 (sub-sample of main survey);
Slighter lower response rate (52% for
GPS pilot, 59% completed diary).
GPS data processed by Eindhoven
University of Technology (TU/e).
Analysis of results - comparing diary
data for same period to GPS data.
GPS data collection pilot
GPS version of the NTS does not produce similar
results to diary collection.
 Fewer trips and stages in the GPS data.
 Time taken and average trip length was longer.
 GPS data had more trips to/from home and fewer trips to/from
work than diary; 25% of trips were missing either a 'to' or 'from'
purpose code.
 Suspect GPS processing identified 'tours' rather than trips.

Data processing market is not yet ready for use in an


NTS context where mode and purpose are required.
GPS data collection pilot
3 published reports on the fieldwork, data processing and
summary analysis of the 2011 NTS GPS pilot:

 National Travel Survey 2011 GPS Pilot Field Report


(NatCen)
 Processing of National Travel Survey GPS Pilot Data, a
technical report (TU/e)
 National Travel Survey 2011 GPS pilot: a summary analysis
(DfT)

https://www.gov.uk/transport-statistics-notes-and-guidanc
e-national-travel-survey
Future of the NTS
7-day travel diary
Contract with NatCen renewed for fieldwork
2013-2017
Reduced costs (34% saving) and respondent
burden:
 Shorter interview (removed questions)
 Items removed from diary, e.g. tolls/congestion charge,
children playing in street on day 7, taxi costs
 England residents only sample, no data collection in
Scotland and Wales from 2013
Thank you for listening

Any questions?
Contact details

Email:
[email protected]

Website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-
transport/series/national-travel-survey-statistics

Phone: 020 7944 3097

You might also like