presented to

MTF Transit Committee

presented by

Scott Seeburger, Myung Sung, Dave Schmitt & Peter Haliburton

November 20, 2008

2008 Tri-Rail On-Board Survey

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Topics

1. Why the survey?

2. FTA’s interests/concerns

3. Addressing FTA’s concerns

4. Survey instrument

5. Survey sample and response rates

6. Survey implementation

7. Ancillary Data

8. Expansion & model validation approach

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Tri-Rail

72-mile commuter rail system

18 stations across 3 counties

1:45 traveling time

About 52 trains/day

Daily ridership

• ~8,000 (2000)~8,000 (2000)

• ~11,000 (March 2007)~11,000 (March 2007)

• ~16,000 (October 2008)~16,000 (October 2008)

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Why the Survey?

FTA requires current & system-wide transit rider data be collected for model testing if model forecasts will be used for New Starts PE applications

Ridership has increased 45% since the last survey was conducted (March 2007), so the characteristics of the new riders need to be understood

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FTA’s Thoughts on Surveying “Good Practice”

The survey must include certain data items for comparisons

The sample must be controlled, so that it can be expanded to a full data set that is representative of all riders

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FTA’s Thoughts on Surveying “Good Practice” (2)

The sampling plan must…

• Be designed with transit markets & rider characteristics in mind

• Carefully allocate the sample so as to minimize bias

• Account for non-response biases

• Include count data for sample expansion

• Discuss surveying methods

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FTA’s Thoughts on Surveying “Good Practice” (3)

The instrument should include a minimum amount of data items…

• Trip origin and destination

• Purposes at the origin and destination

• Access and egress modes

• Transit path

• Rider characteristics

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Addressing FTA’s Thoughts

Collecting boarding/alighting counts by station by train to assist with survey expansion

Counting vehicles at park-ride stations to avoid expansion bias (see next slide)

Scrutinize question types, organization and wording to improve response rates and avoid bias

Incorporate lessons from previous survey

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Uniform Expansion

Daily Daily boardingsboardings 600600

Completed Completed surveyssurveys 1515

Walk-accessWalk-access 22

Drive-accessDrive-access 1313

Revised Expansion

Daily Daily boardingsboardings 600600

Completed Completed surveyssurveys 1515

Survey weightSurvey weight 40.040.0Walk-access Walk-access tripstrips 8080

Drive-access Drive-access tripstrips 520520

Park-ride lot count = 15

cars

Walk-Access Walk-Access ExpansionExpansion

Daily Daily boardingsboardings 570570

Completed Completed surveyssurveys 22

Survey weightSurvey weight 285.285.00

Drive-Access Drive-Access ExpansionExpansion

Daily Daily boardingsboardings 3030

Completed Completed surveyssurveys 1313

Survey weightSurvey weight 2.312.31

Survey Results It is important to conduct auxiliary counts to improve survey expansion!

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Incorporating Lessons from the 2007 Survey…

There was a high amount of auto egress – is this real?• Count egress modes at individual stations

There are many short trippers who may not have enough time to complete survey• Ask critical questions via intercept survey• Have crew stress critical questions

34% of all records came from students• Special counts by on-board crew• Special access/egress counts at individual stations

Two-car or overnight parkers

Survey Instrument

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Survey Sample

Half-Day On-Board Survey with Full-Day Door Counts• 30 trains out of a total of 50 trains• Both northbound and southbound

Response Rate• Ridership Counts (10-22-08)

− 15,662• Surveys Distributed

− 8,403 (54%)• Surveys Collected

− 6,104 (72%)

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Survey Implementation

Pretest

Training, October 21, 2008• Three sessions for 150 temps and 25 professionals

Door Count and Survey Distributions- Temps

Train/Car Captains- Professionals

Conducted Wednesday, October 22, 2008• Start to 2:00 PM- Surveys

• All Day- Door Counts

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Supplementary Station Counts

Control for non-response bias• Overnight parking

• Auto-egress

• Short trippers

• School trips

14 of 18 stations

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1. Mangonia Park

2. West Palm Beach

3. Lake Worth – short trips only

4. Boynton Beach

5. Boca Raton

6. Deerfield Beach

7. Pompano Beach – short trips only

8. Cypress Creek

9. Fort Lauderdale

10. Fort Lauderdale Airport

11. Hollywood

12. Golden Glades

13. Metrorail

14. Miami Airport

Survey Elements

Overnight Parking Counts

Mode of Access

Travel distance query

Boarding and alighting counts

Mode of Egress

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Partial Survey Results

  ACCESS MODE

MODE TOTAL %

Walk 241 11%

Bike 120 5%

Schoolbus/ Metrorail 0 0%

Transit Bus 265 12%

Tri-Rail Shuttle 131 6%

Park N Ride 736 33%

Rideshare N Park 111 5%

Taxi 26 1%

Drop-Off 626 28%

Other 5 0%

Total 2261 100%

67% auto access

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Partial Survey Results

  EGRESS MODE

MODE TOTAL %

Walk 423 22%

Bike 107 6%

Schoolbus/ Metrorail 0 0%

Transit Bus 231 12%

Tri-Rail Shuttle 587 31%

Park N Drive 153 8%

Rideshare N Drive 48 3%

Taxi 41 2%

Pick-Up 319 17%

Other 5 0%

Total 1914 100%

30% auto egress

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Observations

Large number of non-Tri-Rail related vehicles parked overnight• Business staging

• Vehicle exchange

• Ridesharing

Many passengers making indirect trips

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Expansion & Model Validation Approach

1. Expand survey as disaggregately as possible, some options include: by origin/destination station, access/egress mode, and time of day

2. Verify expansion & survey data by preparing several different cross-tabulations and compare with auxiliary count information

3. Re-expand survey if needed

4. Prepare survey data for mode choice calibration

5. Calibrate mode choice model

6. Compare estimated results to survey results across many dimensions to verify model reflects rider patterns (see next slide)

7. Re-expand survey or re-calibrate if needed

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Sample Mode Choice TestGeography by Access Mode

WALKWALK PBPB BOBO MDMD

PBPB 1,1111,111 2,2222,222 3,3333,333

BOBO 4,4444,444 5,5555,555 6,6666,666

MDMD 7,7777,777 8,8888,888 9,9999,999

BUSBUS PBPB BOBO MDMD

PBPB 1,1111,111 2,2222,222 3,3333,333

BOBO 4,4444,444 5,5555,555 6,6666,666

MDMD 7,7777,777 8,8888,888 9,9999,999

METRMETRORAILORAIL PBPB BOBO MDMD

PBPB 1,1111,111 2,2222,222 3,3333,333

BOBO 4,4444,444 5,5555,555 6,6666,666

MDMD 7,7777,777 8,8888,888 9,9999,999

PNR/ PNR/ KNRKNR PBPB BOBO MDMD

PBPB 1,1111,111 2,2222,222 3,3333,333

BOBO 4,4444,444 5,5555,555 6,6666,666

MDMD 7,7777,777 8,8888,888 9,9999,999

Compare estimated results to survey results across as many dimensions as possible