Transport Data Collection Methods

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Introduction
• Any transport planning effort will at some stages involve
the use of data in order to make informed decisions.

• There are different data sources for transport planning.

• Data requirements may vary depending on the contexts

of a particular planning task and hence, on the modelling
uses of data.

• The collection of data is one part of a transport planning

process.

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Introduction
• The first stage in the formulation of a transportation plan
is to collect data on all factors that are likely to influence
travel pattern.

• The work involves a number of surveys so as to have an

inventory of existing travel pattern, an inventory of
existing transportation facilities and an inventory of
existing land use and economic activities.

• It also helps in the building up of a local authority

database used for policy & priority determination or
in allocating costs & income on a jointly operated
venture.
CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Introduction
• Data Collection is a specialist area.

• It is always important to ensure that steps are taken to

ensure that high-quality data is produced and at the
same time efforts for data provision are kept to the
minimum.

• Data collection is a relatively major element of any

modelling exercise, which fulfils a number of
functions:

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Introduction
o It provides the necessary inputs for the construction of the
Base Year Model;
o It provides the data that is required for the Base Year
model Calibration and Validation; and
o It provides the input parameters that are necessary to
develop a Future Year Transport Model.

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Data Sources
• Before proceeding with a planning task or developing a
Transport Model, it is important to fully understand the
extent to which data may already be available as this
can significantly reduce the required work in planning/
model development.

• Model development therefore typically begins with an

audit of available data which may include:
o Data from any existing transport models;
o Census information on economic activities,
distribution of GDP per capita (if possible),
population, employment and the Journey to Work;

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Data Sources
o Traffic count data from National, Regional or Local
Authorities;
o Public transport data from operators;
o Freight data databases; and
o Statistics on car ownership, vehicle kilometres
travelled, fuel consumption, freight tonnage carried by
mode
• When considering data from existing transport
models, it is important to understand whether data
emerging from those models is fit for purpose.

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Data Sources
• Use of data from existing models does not imply that the
data is fit for purpose.

• In such instances it is still necessary to undergo the

necessary calibration and validation as part of the model
development process

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Types of Movements
• The basic movements for which survey data is
required
a) Internal to Internal
b) Internal to External
c) External to Internal
d) External to External

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Types of Movements

• Figure: Basic movements in a transport survey

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Types of Movements
• For large urban areas, the internal to internal is
heavy whereas for small areas having small
population the internal to internal travel is
insignificant.

• The internal to internal and internal to external

travels can be studied by home interview
technique.

• The external to external and external to internal

travels can be studied by cordon surveys.
CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Typical Data Collection Techniques
1) Home interview survey
a) Telephone survey
b) Mail back
c) Face to face

2) Commercial vehicle survey

a) Stop line survey
b) Innovative commercial vehicle tracking methods

3) Public transport survey

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Typical Data Collection Techniques
4) Cordon line survey
5) Post card questionnaire survey
6) Registration number survey
7) Tag-on-vehicle survey
8) Group survey
9)Observation survey
10)In depth survey
11)Online web survey

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Typical Data Collection Techniques

• Identify and discuss the merits and demerits of

various data collection methods

CoET
Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering
Traffic Surveys in 2008 DSM Master Plan
• General
• Traffic Survey
• Household Interview Survey
• Screen Line Survey
• Cordon Line Survey
• OD Matrices Building
Traffic Surveys in 2008 DSM Master Plan
The objectives of traffic survey were;
i) To understand characteristics and identify transport-related
problems in the study area.

ii) To collect information required for future traffic demand

forecast.

Scope of traffic survey (type of survey, survey location,

period etc.) depends on the scope of transport plan and/or
method of traffic demand forecast.
Traffic Surveys in 2008 DSM Master Plan

Preparation Site investigation Scope of traffic survey

Survey implementation plan

Training of supervisors Permission and coordination by

/ surveyors relevant organization / agencies

Survey
Implementation Survey implementation

Data Processing
and Reporting Error check / data coding

Survey performance report

Traffic Surveys in 2008 DSM Master Plan
Survey Objective Information Collected
1. Household - Household and individual attributes
To obtain travel pattern of
Interview
residents in the Study area - Travel information
Survey (HIS)
2. Screen Line To count traffic volume on - Traffic volume by type of vehicle
Survey screen lines - Occupancy
- Traffic volume by type of vehicle
To obtain travel pattern of
3. Cordon Line - Occupancy
residents outside Study
Survey -Trip information of drivers and
area
passengers
- Directional traffic volume
4. Intersection To observe traffic flow at
- No. of pedestrians
Count Survey major intersections
- Signal phase pattern
5. Travel Speed To measure travel speed on
- Travel time and travel speed
Survey major corridors
Traffic Surveys in 2008 DSM Master Plan
Survey Objective Information Collected
6. Trip To obtain building - Building and parking inventory
Generation attributes and their trip
Survey generation - Trip generation of buildings

- Route and frequency of bus services

7. Public
To collect bus services and - Information of bus users
Transport
information of bus users -Opinion and preferences on public
Survey
transport
8. Opinion & To obtain opinion and
- Opinion and preferences on public
Preference preferences on public
transport
Survey transport
9. Cargo -Profile of transport related
To obtain cargo traffic companies
Transport
movements
Survey - Movements of cargo trucks
10. Road
Inventory To collect road condition - Road width, number of lanes, etc.
Survey
Traffic Surveys in 2008 DSM Master Plan
Trip Trip Traffic
OD Modal Evaluati
Survey Genera Distribu Assign
Matrix Split on
tion tion ment
1. Household Interview Survey
✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
(HIS)
2. Screen Line Survey ✔
3. Cordon Line Survey ✔
4. Intersection Count Survey ✔
5. Travel Speed Survey (✔)
6. Trip Generation Survey (✔)
7. Public Transport Survey ✔
8. Opinion & Preference Survey ✔
9. Cargo Transport Survey ✔
10. Road Inventory Survey ✔
 Household Interview Survey (HIS)
 Objectives
To understand ordinary transport activities (person trip) such as
origin and destination by transport mode and purpose.

 Output
Used for the estimation of traffic demand forecast model for large
scale transport planning such as urban area or state.

 Sample Rate
Sample rate depends on size of population, mode of transport,
purpose of trip, size of traffic zone studied.
(ex. Number of sample in the study was 10,000 households)
Concept of Person Trip
 Trip consists of two trip ends, namely,
origin and destination. Trip has
characteristics such as mode (kind of
transportation) and trip purpose.

In general, trip consists of combinatio n

of transport modes. In that case, modes
is represented by representative mode.
Concept of OD Matrix
OD matrix is a matrix which
has origin in column, and
destination in row

Trip generation consists of

“trip production” and “trip
attraction”. Total trip by origin
is “trip production” and total
trip by destination is “trip
attraction”.
 HIS: Preparation of HIS
At the preparation stage of HIS, following items should be confirmed.
- Zoning
- Design of survey form
- Survey team structure and training, pilot survey
- Public relations (newspaper etc.)

i) Zoning
For the efficient data collection and analysis of results of OD survey,
trip origin and destination should be classified by zone. Zone system
is, in general, defined by administration boundaries. In HIS, origin
and destination are identified by address and landmark.
HIS: Survey Form
ii) Design of survey form
Person trip survey consists of i) household information such as
number of household members, address, household income and
vehicle ownership, ii) personal information including occupation,
and iii) ordinary trip information including origin, destination,
purpose and transport mode.

Household information Personal information Trip information

Member 1 Member 1 Trip 1

Member 2 Trip 2
Member 3
Personal information Trip n

Member n Member n
Trip information
HIS: Survey Form (Household Info)
HIS: Survey Form (Personal Info)

Some items are defined by

classification to collect exact
information
HIS: Survey Form (Trip Info)
 HIS: Pilot Survey
The pilot survey (20-30 households) was conducted by the
supervisors before the full-scale survey.
The purposes of the pilot survey are as follows.
•To know any difficulties of the survey that the surveyors may face
with.
• To develop an effective training program for the surveyors.
•To check effectiveness of the survey forms (easiness to understand
the questions by the interviewees).
 HIS: Pilot Survey
During the implementation of HIS, following problems were
identified.
•Household members complained about interview items such
as “income”.
→ obtain cooperation by explanation that ”income” is need to
demand forecast model.

• There are no household members when surveyors visit.

→ interviewed another household.
 HIS: Error Check of HIS
Items for error check of HIS are;
• Completion
Number of sheets, check if necessary answers are entered, legibility
and clarity.

•Validation
Valid numbers.

• Logical Check
Discrepancy or inconsistency among information (ex. age and
economic activity, illogical trip purpose, Inconsistency between
occupation and trip purpose)
 HIS: Database of HIS
After the error check, cleaned data is stored in database.

Household Information Individual Information Trip Information

Household No. Household No. Household No.
Household Data Individual No. Individual No.
Individual Data Trip No.
Trip Data
Expansion Factor Expansion Factor Expansion Factor

Expansion factor is calculated by actual number of households and

number of samples by zone.
Screen Line (Traffic Count) Survey (SLS)

 Objectives
To calibrate current vehicular OD matrices estimated by HIS.
To understand traffic characteristics like
i) vehicle composition such as heavy vehicle ratio,
ii) hourly fluctuation and peak ratio,
iii) traffic in the direction with a high percentage of traffic, and
iv) vehicle occupancy.

Screen Line : divide the area into large natural zones e.g. at both
sides of a river, railway, or major roadway, with few crossing points
between them.
SLS: Screen Line
OD matrix by HIS
Traffic Count Points on Arterial Road
1 2 3 … n …N
Screen Line 1
2
SC-1ba
3
Large Zone B

…
SC-1ab
n
Tba

…
Tab N
SC-3ba
SC-2ba
SC-3ab
SC-2ab

Large Zone A AB
A Tab
B Tba
Estimated Tab should be total of SC-1ab, SC-2ab and SC-3ab.
 SLS: Screen Line in Master Plan
Screen 1
In the Master Plan, 3 screen
line were surveyed.

Screen Line 1:
Screen 2
Outskirts of Mandela Rd. (and
Sam Nujoma Rd.)
Screen 3

Screen Line 2:
Msimbazi River

Screen Line 3:
Outskirts of City Centre
 SLS: Preparation of Screen Line Survey

As the preparation of screen line survey, following items should be

discussed.

• Survey date:
During weekday excluding exceptional day such as summer vacation.

• Survey period:
24 hours a day in theory, 12 - 16 hours in normal practice (expanded
to 24 hours)

• Vehicle classification:
Identical to i) similar traffic survey conducted and/or ii) statistical
information.
SLS: Screen Line Survey in Master Plan

In the Master Plan, screen line survey was performed, in weekday in

middle of June to July for 24 hours at
i) Salender Bridge (Ali Hassan Mwinyi Rd.),
ii) Jangwani Konoike (Morogoro Rd.),
iii) Darajani/Shoprite (Nyerere Rd.) and
iv) International Airport and Seaport.

• For 14 hours (6:00-20:00) at other locations.

•Vehicles classified into 11 categories; passenger car, taxi, light
commodity vehicle (pickup and vans), public buses (Dala-dala),
Inter-city buses, organization buses (school bus, company and
tourist bus), 2 axles truck, 3 axles truck, heavy truck (over three
axles, trailer, semi-trailer), motorcycle, others (including bicycle).
Cordon Line Survey (CLS)
 Objectives
To understand trip pattern in external of study area, by counting
traffic volume and interviewing trip characteristics.
 Output
OD matrices of the boundaries of study area.
OD matrix
1 2 3 … n … N
1
2
3
…
n
…

External zone
(ex. out of Dar es Salaam) N
CLS: Preparation of Cordon Line Survey

At the preparation stage of cordon line survey, following items

should be confirmed.

• Survey date and survey period: Same with screen line survey.
• Vehicle classification should be coordinated with screen line.
•Trip information such as trip purpose, origin and destination
should be coordinated with HIS.
• Expected sampling ratio is calculated by same way with HIS, but 20
– 30% is required empirically. Expected sampling ratio in the Master
Plan was 20% at arterial road.
•In general, OD interview at roadside requires cooperation of
relevant agencies such as traffic police for security and safety
reason.
 CLS: Cordon Line Survey in Master Plan
In the Master Plan, 7 cordon
lines/points were surveyed.

1. Bagamoyo Rd.
2. Morogor Rd.
3. Nyerere Rd.
4. Kilwa Rd.
5. Mjimwema Road
6. Airport
7. Zanzibar/Pemba Ferry Terminal

Railway was not included because

of low frequency of operation.
CLS: Cordon Line Survey Form in Master Plan
OD Matrices Building
HIS Data Check/ Cleaned
Survey Correction PT Sample
DB

Expansion Population
Screen Cordon
Line Cargo
Line
Survey Survey
Survey
PT Master
DB
Screen Line Cargo Data Cordon Line
Processing Processing Processing Network
Tabulation of
Traffic OD Matrix
Cargo Non-res
Volume OD Traffic
OD
Assignment
Resident
OD
Traffic
All OD Volume

Calibration Calibration