- What is the Oregon Travel & Activity Survey?
- Who is the survey for?
- Who is doing the survey?
- Who is being asked to participate in the survey?
- How will the OMSC use my information?
- Will my individual data be made public?
- How long will the survey take?
- Can I participate even if I don't get a recruitment call from a phone interviewer?
- How is the survey funded?
- How was the survey contractor chosen?
- If your question is not listed here please follow this link to submit your question
1.What is the Oregon Travel & Activity Survey?Back to List
The Oregon Travel and Activity Survey (OTAS) is the first in-depth study of household travel behavior in Oregon in more than 10 years. From April 2009 through December 2013, approximately 17,000 participating households from around the state will identify where and how they traveled on a specific, designated travel day (24 hours). In order to ensure a representative sample for the study, each household will also be asked a series of detailed questions about the household's access to transportation and its socioeconomic characteristics. When completed, these data will provide valuable information to planners, engineers, designers and others as they work locally, regionally and statewide to create plans for transportation systems that meet the needs of Oregon's various communities.
2.Who is the survey for?Back to List
A group of transportation related agencies, called the Oregon Modeling Steering Committee (OMSC), is responsible for this survey. OMSC includes representatives from agencies such as the Oregon Department of Transportation, Bend Metro Planning Organization, Rogue Valley Council of Governments, Lane Council of Governments and others. OMSC helps develop the best land-use-transportation modeling tools for all kinds of long range planning in Oregon. The OMSC also serves as a consensus forum and support group to coordinate the land-use-transportation modeling effort of federal, state, regional and local agencies. More information on the OMSC can be found online at http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TPAU/OMSC.shtml .
3.Who is doing the survey?Back to List
The Oregon Modeling Steering Committee has contracted with NuStats, a professional transportation survey firm, to help design and execute this survey. NuStats' sister firm, DataSource, will be making phone calls for the survey and several other firms are assisting with the design and data applications resulting from the effort. All contractors will be informing households that they are calling concerning the Oregon Travel & Activity Survey on behalf of the OMSC.
4.Who is being asked to participate in the survey?Back to List
Participants in the survey will be taken from a list of household addresses randomly selected to ensure participation from across Oregon. Households with addresses with listed phone numbers will be contacted by phone. Households without a listed phone number will be contacted by mail. Households of all ages, sizes, incomes, and geographic locations across the state will be recruited for this survey.
5.How will the OMSC use my information?Back to List
Household travel and activity data help forecast future travel patterns, and that helps us plan for future transportation needs of Oregon. These data are used in travel forecast models. The outputs of the travel models are used to evaluate and prioritize regional transportation projects. Projects range from roadway expansion and reconstruction to rapid transit commuter train systems. These planning models must have valid activity data in order to choose the best projects for Oregon's transportation system.
6.Will my individual data be made public?Back to List
No, the survey is strictly confidential. Your responses will be separated from your personal identifying information before the information is given to the OMSC. Data provided to the OMSC will be summarized by geographic and socioeconomic categories before being made public. Oregon has conducted four household surveys in the past and never had a breach in confidentially.
7.How long will the survey take?Back to List
While this is an extensive survey, we have worked very hard to make every minute count!
The initial phone interview to screen a household and collect demographic data usually takes between 15 and 20 minutes and will depend on the number of household members and the number of vehicles you own. If you agree to participate, you will then be asked to agree to an assigned travel day. If you agree with that date or select another day with the interviewer, then NuStats will send your household a travel diary for each household member and instructions on how to fill out the diary on your day.
An interviewer calls each household the day before the scheduled travel day to help remind the household of the travel day and to answer any questions you might have. This is a 5-minute call.
Your travel day will begin at 3:00 AM and last for 24 hours. Don't worry; we don't expect anyone to get up at 3:00 AM to fill out the diary! You will be asked to simply record all activity as it would normally occur throughout the day. If you record as you travel throughout the day, the recording time will be minimal. If you record all your trips at the end of the day, it may take additional time to recall each and every trip.
The day after the travel day, an interviewer calls to collect the household's results. Depending on how many household members you have, this will take from 20-30 minutes. After the data is collected over the phone, the household is asked to mail the diaries to NuStats' data collection partner, DataSource.
8.Why should I bother?Back to List
You have a truly rare opportunity to help your community! Due to its expense, surveys of this type are rarely taken. There are more than 1,500,000 households in our state. If you participate, your household will be one of only 17,000 selected to represent all the rest. When you participate, you make sure that your travel behavior and needs and the behavior and needs of other households like yours are included. This helps the OMSC build a fuller, more accurate picture of local transportation needs.
Without an accurate understanding of how and why people travel in Oregon, the OMSC cannot make the best recommendations about how to reduce congestion and improve quality-of-life. Your local, state, and federal officials depend on the OMSC's recommendations when making important transportation decisions. The OMSC must show that it has an accurate model in order for communities throughout each region to be eligible to receive any federal funding for their transportation projects.
If you have ever wondered how you might influence that traffic you sit in daily, this is your chance to play a part in solving the problem!
9.Can I participate even if I don't get a recruitment call form a phone interviewer?Back to List
Due to the need to gather statistically accurate information that represents the study area, we can only include randomly chosen households. To see if your household is one of the randomly selected participants, please call 1-888-222-7734. You can also check the website at www.nustats.com/otas.
10.How is the survey funded?Back to List
The survey is funded by several OMSC member agencies, including ODOT, Portland Metro, Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments, Lane Council of Governments, Rogue Valley Council of Governments, and the Bend Metro Planning Org. Eighty percent of the funding is from federal highway funds. Federal planning requirements include collecting data to keep analysis tools up-to-date. The data used now is nearly fifteen years old and overdue for an update. See question "Why Should I Bother?" for a description of how the data are used.
11.How was the survey contractor chosen?Back to List
ODOT serves as the contract administrator acting on behalf of the OMSC. An open bid process was used and the contract awarded for the best proposal. Two competitive bids were submitted for this project. The selected proposal was submitted by NuStats, a firm based in Texas. They partnered with several other companies for the winning bid, including firms operating in Oregon.
