The Work Trip The Work Trip in the Context of Daily Travelin the Context of Daily Travel

Census Data for Transportation Planning Conference,

May 2005

Nancy McGuckin, Travel Behavior Analyst

Nanda Srinivasan, Cambridge Systematics

Q: How Important is the Work Trip to Q: How Important is the Work Trip to our Understanding of Daily Travel?our Understanding of Daily Travel?

Overall, one out of five trips and one out of four miles are traveled in commutes.

For workers, over 40 percent of miles and minutes of travel on weekdays is spent in commutes.

Commuting continues to predominate weekdays and peak periods, (nearly 72 percent of workers depart between 5:00 and 9:00 am) contributing to congestion.

The proportion of direct (non-stop) trips to work continues to decline. In 2001, over half of commuters made non-work trips during their commutes.

Work Trips Have Declined Work Trips Have Declined as a Proportion of All Tripsas a Proportion of All Trips

Work Travel as a Proportion of All Travel

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

1969 1977 1983 1990 1995 2001*

Person Trips Person Miles of Travel Vehicle Trips Vehciles Miles of Travel

Other Types of Trips are GrowingOther Types of Trips are GrowingFaster than Work TripsFaster than Work Trips

Added Annual Trips per Person by Purpose 1990 - 2001

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

To/From Work Family & Pers Errands Shopping Soc/Rec (inc Visit)

Add

ed A

nnua

l Trip

s pe

r P

erso

n

Workers Account forWorkers Account for A LOT of Daily TravelA LOT of Daily Travel

Comparison of Travel by Workers and All Others 16+

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Population Tripmakers Person Trips Vehicle Trips PMT VMT Sum of All TravelTime

Workers All Others 16+

Workers do More Workers do More Than CommutingThan Commuting

Proportion of Work- and Non-Work Trips Made byWeekday Workers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Person Trips Vehicle Trips PMT VMT PMT IN POV SUM OF ALL TT

Work Trips Non-Work

Even When They HaveEven When They Have Long CommutesLong Commutes

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

<15 mins 15-29 mins 30-44 mins 45+ mins

Commute Time Categories

Wee

kday

Min

utes

of

Tra

vel

Work Tours NonWork

Less Than Half of CommutersLess Than Half of CommutersMake Direct Trips to WorkMake Direct Trips to Work

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Mea

n H

BW

Trip

s

1990 2001

The Mountain of Growth in The Mountain of Growth in is in Non-Work Travelis in Non-Work Travel

Difference in Number of Trips by Time of Day, 1990 - 2001

-5.00E+09

0.00E+00

5.00E+09

1.00E+10

1.50E+10

2.00E+10

2.50E+10

Mid-6am 6 - 9am 9-noon noon-3pm 3 - 6pm 6 - 9pm 9 - Mid

HBW HBShop HBSoc HBO NHB

Using Work Tours Using Work Tours Captures More Realistic PictureCaptures More Realistic Picture

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Me

an

HB

W o

r W

ork

To

urs

/Wo

rke

r

HBW Trips Work Tours

We Think We KnowWe Think We Know w whathat

Complex Work Tours Look LikeComplex Work Tours Look Like

Home

Work

Boss’ Birthday

Lunch

Drop Child At Daycare

Pick -up Present for Boss’ Birthday

Pick -up Groceries for Dinner

Pick Child up at Daycare

,

Home

Work

Trip 3 -Shop

Trip 2 –Drop Child at Camp

Trip 4 – Back to Work

Trip 7 –Shop to Home

Trip 8 –Home to Pick -up Child

Trip 1 – Home to Work

Trip 6 –Shop to Shop

Trip 5 – Work to Shop

But, Do We Really?But, Do We Really?

Real Life is MessyReal Life is Messy

Trip 1: To Work

Trip 2: Work to Childs Day Camp

Trip 3: Day Camp to Store

Trip 4: Store to Work

Trip 4: Work to StoreTrip 6: Store to Home

Trip 5: Store to Store

Trip 7: Home to Day Camp

HOME

WORK

360010135.02

360010137.03

360010136.01

360010138.01

360010136.02

360010137.05

360010137.07

360010135.03

360010135.06

360010004.01

360010138.02

360010003.00

360010130.00

360010139.02

360010146.09

360010140.01

360010139.01

360010146.08

360010137.06

360010004.03

360010140.02360010004.04

360010146.07

360010129.00

360010146.10

360010001.00360010007.00360010018.02 360010002.00

But, Is a Good Household Travel SurveyBut, Is a Good Household Travel Survey Good Enough?Good Enough?

Unique pairs of Worker Residence and Work Location Tracts, n=445

Not for Small-Area GeographicNot for Small-Area Geographic CoverageCoverage

Unique pairs of worker residence and workplace locations, n=8,953

HTS Overstates Some Potential Flows HTS Overstates Some Potential Flows and Misses Others Completelyand Misses Others Completely

Legend

NHTS FlowsDAILY_WORK

31 - 200

201 - 400

401 - 600

601 - 800

801 - 1800

Total Workers Trips into Albany=106,058)

Journey-to-Work Flows Journey-to-Work Flows

More ReasonableMore ReasonableTotal Work Flows into Albany=218,715

In major characteristics, In major characteristics,

Census data matches ‘real’ commutesCensus data matches ‘real’ commutes

How usual is a ‘Usual’ day: Mode of travel matched for over 70 percent of commutes

Travel time matched better for workers with short commutes (70 percent) than with long travel times (30-50 percent)

Departure time also very, very similar

Best of All Possible Worlds:Best of All Possible Worlds:

Work flows at small-area geography

AND

Descriptions of the real-life travel behavior from a household travel survey

ConclusionConclusion What makes the JTW invaluable?

It is the work trip data collected in conjunction with the residence and workplace locations with such precise geographic detail.

Transportation planners can evaluate potential work travel at small-area geography While using other data sources to expand their

understanding of the work trip to the whole of daily travel.

ConclusionConclusion

The journey-to-work data are still relevant and needed for small-area planning, and are widely used by transportation planners and analysts.

There is a particular need for these data in areas that do not have a local, current household travel survey.

Looking ForwardLooking Forward ACS will result in fewer flows, and fewer OD

pairs

Planners hope that they can learn to make these data as useful and relevant as the CTPP

This conference is a good overview of issues (e.g. confidentiality and thresholds, sample sizes, uses in modeling)

Guidebook will be vital in helping local planners

We Need to Connect We Need to Connect Workplace Data to Daily Trip-makingWorkplace Data to Daily Trip-making

Journey-to-work flows are not trips

LED promises comprehensive employment summaries, but not trip attraction rates

For instance, 15 employees at a small fast-food place can attract 1500 daily trips

We need to know the 1500, not just the 15