Obtaining Travel Intensity Profiles from Household Travel Survey Data

Abstract

Innovative ways to examine the spatiotemporal variations in road traffic, by using data from the Victorian Activity and Travel Survey (VATS), are presented. The approach is shown to offer significant advantages over traditional methods of analysis, such as observational surveys or roadside traffic counts. By linking the complete vehicle travel paths reported in VATS with the detailed demographic data of the respondents, a comprehensive understanding of travel and driver behavior is developed. The general methodology described is shown to be applicable to any travel data obtained from household travel surveys, especially where the origins and destinations of the recorded trips have been geocoded and stored in a geographic information system.