Department of TransportDepartment of Environmentand ConservationDepartment of Health

TRAVELSMART ‘A joint Australian, State and Territory Government Initiative under the

National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health’

TravelSmart Workplace fact sheet Workplace travel surveys

Travel surveys are important for understanding and monitoring how people travel to a workplace. This fact sheet covers the basics of running a travel survey as part of efforts to promote active, sustainable travel to a workplace.

WHY SURVEY?Workplace travel surveys are used to gather data on travel to and from a workplace. Key reasons for running workplace travel surveys are to:

• Assistinchoosingactionsthatareappropriateforinfluencing travel behaviours

• Providedatathatallowsyoutomeasurechangeinbehaviour after actions have been implemented.

RUNNING A TRAVEL SURVEY IN YOUR WORKPLACE The steps for running a workplace travel survey are shown below. These steps should be integrated with your workplace travel plan or similar– for example run a survey every year and use the results to review past activitiesandplantheyearahead.Allowtimeforplanningand testing the survey before you run it.

Step 1 Preliminary planning

Step 2 Setting up the travel survey

Step 3 Running the travel survey

Step 4 Analysing the data and using results

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STEP 1 - PRELIMINARY PLANNINGThinking ahead is critical for a travel survey so you can ask the right questions of the right people, in the right way. Invest some time in preliminary planning so your survey provides the data you need.

1.1 Define survey purpose and target

Defining the purpose of the survey is important as it will shape what follows. If you are developing or reviewing a workplace travel plan, the purpose and scope of the plan sets parameters for the survey.

If a travel plan aims to increase employee health through active travel, the survey should cover the mode and distance of employee commuting and business trips. If you want to extend your workplace’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions from transport – the mode and distance of all trips generated by the workplace are relevant.

Clarifying survey purpose will help decide the data you need to collect and the target groups you need to collect it from. The target groups and trips for a workplace survey could include:

• Commutingbyemployees

• Businesstripsbyemployees,includinguseoffleetvehicles and flights

• Tripstoyourworkplacebyclientsandvisitors

• Servicetripssuchasdeliveries.

TRAVEL PLANSAtravelplanisapackageofactionsformanagingtraveltoaworkplace.Atravelplanisagoodwaytoaddressissues raised in a travel survey and so promote active, sustainabletraveltoasite.TheTravelSmartWorkplaceprogram offers information and support to employers to develop and implement workplace travel plans.

Steps in conducting a travel survey Once you have selected the target group/s, seek information on them. For example find out from Human Resources how many people work at the site you will survey. Information on the gender balance or proportion of full and part time or shift workers can be useful in planning the survey and checking how representative the survey sample is.

IntheTravelSmartWorkplacetravelsurveytoolsweaskpeople about how they travel to and from a workplace. If you want input into actions to influence this behaviour, this is best done separately, for example through focus groups,workshoporteamdiscussions.Surveyresultscan be used in these forums to gain informed feedback.

1.2 Choose survey methods

Choose the survey methods and sampling design (see next section) with these factors in mind:

• Thepeopleyouneedtotarget,i.e.allorsomeemployees, clients, visitors

• Thesizeandnatureoftheworkplace-thenumberof people travelling to a site and whether they can access the internet at work will affect what methods can be used. If your organisation has multiple sites that you want to survey, consider these aspects for each.

Methods that could be used for a workplace travel survey are summarised in the table below. You can use a combination of online and printed surveys if you have office based staff as well as employees in different settings (e.g. a workshop).

IMPORTANT INFORMATIONTravelSmartWorkplacehasdevelopedanonlinesurveytool for use by organisations that are part of the program. This tool is free to use and the program staff will analyse and prepare a report of findings for your workplace. For a mediumtolargeofficetheTravelSmartonlinesurveytoolistherecommendedsurveymethod.Printversionsoftheonline survey are available for small and medium to large workplaces. The survey is for use with employees; it can be adapted to survey clients/visitors.

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Survey method Description Sampling design Things to considerSelf-completiononline survey

Peoplecompletethe survey online through a provided web link

Census, random, stratified random sample

- Suitableforofficebasedstaff;

- easytodistributetoemployees;

- lesstimerequiredtoprocessandanalysedata,and;

- promotionandreminderstomaximiseresponse

Self-completionprinted questionnaire

Peoplecompletea hard copy of the survey

Census, random, stratified random sample

- Suitableforemployeeswithoutcomputeraccess;

- considerabletimetoprocessandanalysedata,and;

- promotionandremindersneededtomaximiseresponse

Interviewing people Interviewer ask people at their desks or when mobile in the workplace

Census or random based sample

- Suitableformobileworkforceorshiftworkers,and;

- canachievehighresponseratesbutislabourintensive and interviewer could bias results

Intercept survey Questions asked at point of movement or activity

Census or systematic sampling

- Needdiscreteaccesspoints/routes;

- providesasnapshotoftraveltothesiteincludingclients/visitors, and;

- Mustbebrief,sofewquestionsincluded

Table 1: Survey methods

Table 2: Sampling designs

Survey method Description Census Surveyofallpeopleinthepopulationwithattempttoachieveahighresponserate

Random sample Obtain a list of employees and assign them a number and then use random numbers to select the sample

Stratifiedrandomsample Makes use of relevant prior information to subdivide the population into sampling units, e.g. work group or job type

Systematicsample Systematicsamplingisamethodofselectingunitsthroughapplicationofaselectioninterval, e.g. each fifth person

1.3 Determine sampling design

Thesamplingdesigndependsuponthesizeoftheworkplace.

For most workplaces a census should be used to maximise the sample and cover variation in the population at the site. Random sampling is usually only feasible where there are large numbers of people, for example 1,000 employees. Relatively large samples may be needed to detect the relatively small changes in travel behaviour likely from survey to survey. For a large, complex workforce such as a hospital, a stratified sample maybeneeded.Samplingdesignsaresummarisedinthe next table.

Inallrandomsamplesasamplesizeneedstobedetermined.Asamplesizeisthenumberofresponsesneeded for valid analysis and can be estimated using a samplesizecalculator.

IfyourorganisationisparticipatinginTravelSmartWorkplace please discuss sampling design and appropriatesamplesizewiththeprogramteam.

STEP 2 - SETTING UP THE TRAVEL SURVEY2.1 Decide upon timing of the survey

In your preliminary planning you will have decided upon your survey method (online, paper etc.) and sampling design. You can now decide when to conduct your survey. It is wise to avoid:

• publicholidays,schoolholidaysorothertimeswhenmany people aren’t at work;

• busyworkperiods,e.g.endoffinancialyear-ifemployees are busy, response rates could be lower, and;

• periodswhenothersurveysarebeingdistributedtoemployees.

2.2 Select survey questions

Surveyquestionsshouldbewrittentoobtaindataneeded to address your survey purpose. The questions should be put in clear and simple language appropriate for the intended sample. Questions should allow for measurement of change.

Table 3: Survey questions

Question Why askedWhere did you travel from or what is your home suburb? Enter street address, at least suburb.

To estimate trip distances – useful in considering potential for change

For each day in a week, how did you travel to and from work?Selecteachmodeused,forexamplewalk,busand train.

Askingaboutaweekpicksupvariationinthemodespeople use and allows people working part time to contribute. It is also used to calculate the number and proportion of trips by mode – key statistic for evaluating behaviour change

Why do you travel to/from work using these modes? Selectfromoptionse.g.needtodropoffchildrenatchildcare/school or no alternative available.

Help in understanding the influences on people’s travel choices and what could be changed to make it easier to use alternatives to driving

How likely is it that you will change how you travel to work? What travel modes are you interested in changing to?

Indication of people’s interest in change

Did you make any trips for business on given date (e.g. to meetings, for site inspections, to make deliveries)? If so, note where travelled to and modes used.

Used to calculate the number and proportion of trips by mode-keystatisticforevaluatingbehaviourchange.Alsousedtoconsiderpotentialtochangebusinesstrips

How likely is it that you will change how you make business trips? What travel modes are you interested in changing to?

Indication of people’s interest in change

Does your workplace currently provide you with any of the following facilities or policies? E.g. free car parking at the workplace, flexible work hours.

Indication of provision of and staff awareness of facilities and policies that may influence their travel choices.

Can highlight issues for attentionWhat is your gender? Check how representative the sample is of the

workforce

Is your work: full time, part time, casual, volunteer, other? Check how representative the sample is of the workforce

ThequestionsaskedintheTravelSmartWorkplaceonline survey tool and print questionnaires are listed in the table below.

For an intercept survey questions could be:

• Howdidyoutravelherethismorning/afternoon?Promptrespondenttomentionallmodesused,record these.

• Wheredidyoutravelfromtogethere?Isthisyourhome suburb? This will help estimating travel distance.

• Areyouanemployee,clientorvisitor?Amendtermsas appropriate. This will help separate employee commutes from client or visitor trips when analysing the data.

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2.3 Set up and test the survey

This is a key step, regardless of what survey method you have chosen. Leave a week or two to test the survey. Check that people understand and can appropriately answer questions. If an online survey is being used test it acrossafewinternetbrowsers.Alsotestdataentryandanalysisusingtestresponses.Actionsforsettingupandtesting surveys are summarised in the next table.

Table 4: Survey set up and testing

Survey tool Action neededTravelSmartWorkplace online survey tool (for participants in the program only)

ContacttheTravelSmartWorkplaceteamtosetupaprofileforyourorganisation

The Workplace team will email you a link to your organisation specific survey

Email this link to a few people in the workplace to test the wording and also check the survey is compatible with internet browser and security settings in your workplace/s

Gain approval to run the survey at the timeframe you have specified.

Papersurvey Customise the travel survey template example with your organisation logo and fill in blank fields

Where it states to insert a date into a survey field, insert the dates for your survey week. When it asks to insert a day, insert one day (Tuesday, Wednesday etc., whichever day works best for your organisation) of the week you intend to survey.

Printoffyourpapersurveys.

Test data entry and analysis.

Intercept or interview survey

Customise the travel survey template – the same questions can be used for interviews. For interceptsurveysonlyafewquestionsareasked(seeabove).Preparerecordsheetsforinterviewers to use.

Recruit volunteers to undertake the survey. They could be rostered on for a few hours each across the survey day. For some sites it may be enough to intercept people across a few hoursduringwhichmostpeopletraveltowork.Somesitessuchashospitalsmayhavestaffand visitors arriving across the day so a longer period would need to be covered. Identify and allocate volunteers to places for intercept survey, e.g. main entry or staff entry.

Ensure volunteers are briefed on the purpose of the survey, understand the survey questions and have the opportunity to try out interviewing people and accurately recording data that you need.

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STEP 3 - RUNNING THE TRAVEL SURVEY3.1 Communicating the survey

One week prior to your survey start date commence communication to employees about the survey. This will maximiseresponseratesandreducebiasfromnon-response.Inthepre-surveycommunicationinclude:

• thereasonsforthesurveyinbrief,e.g.tohelpusimprove employee access to the workplace

• organisational/executivesupportforthesurvey

• whatwillhappentothedata(privacyassurance)

• datesforthesurvey

• anyincentivesthatwillbeoffered.

You could use posters, an article on internal intranet, broadcast email message from senior management or any other method of communication the works for your workplaceculturetocommunicatetheabovepre-surveyinformation.

TheTravelSmartWorkplaceteamhavedrafttextyou may wish to use for survey notices, survey week announcements and reminder emails.

3.2. Distributing the survey

On the week of your survey it’s time to distribute your survey. If an online survey is used, email the link to staff at the workplace (or a sample if random sampling is used). If a printed questionnaire is used, distribute it to staff – for example desk to desk or at a staff meeting (having people spend five minutes filling it in at the meeting and collecting it straight afterwards can work well). If clients/visitors are to be surveyed, ask the reception staff to provide the questionnaire or ask a few questions directly.

If an interview or intercept survey is used, have volunteers ask people at their workstations or designated points in or around the workplace.

3.2 Tracking responses and issuing reminders

Fortheonlinesurvey,theTravelSmartWorkplaceteamcan provide updates on how many employees have completed the survey during the survey period. We also recommend the travel survey is open for responses for up to two weeks after the survey week to maximise the response rate.

Goodresponseratesarevitaltogetgooddata.Besidesthe above communication other ways to maximise participation include:

• Incentivessuchasprizedraw,coffeevouchers,storegiftvouchersandmovietickets.Ensureprizesaren’t linked to travel in order to reduce bias of respondents. If incentives are used you will need to ask respondents to give their name or email address

sotheycangointheprizedraw(thisquestioncanbeadded to the online or print questionnaires).

• Reminders-Keeptrackofthenumberofpeopleresponding. Within two or three days of distributing the survey send out a reminder and repeat a few days later if needed. It is likely that if people will respond within a day or two of receiving the survey. Reminders are most successful if they are varied in nature. (For example an email, a phone call or even a personal reminder in team meetings)

STEP 4 - ANALYSING THE DATA AND USING RESULTS4.1 Analysis

IftheTravelSmartWorkplaceonlinesurveytoolisused,program staff will undertake analysis of the data for you and present a report of findings.

For printed questionnaires and interview and intercept surveys data entry and analysis of results can be undertakeninExcel.Structurethespreadsheetusingthesurveyquestionsandresponseoptions.Toallowcross-checking and further analysis it is suggested that each respondent/survey form be represented as one row of data (i.e. not aggregated). The responsibility for analysis of survey data lies with the individual organisation if theyarenotparticipantsintheTravelSmartWorkplaceprogram.

If more detailed analysis is required dedicated statistical softwarepackagessuchasSPSSareavailable.

Key statistics that can be calculated from the survey data include:

• Averagetripdistance-Howfarpeopletravelfromhome to the workplace, broken down by categories if necessary, such as employees and clients/visitors.

• Modesplitforcommutetrips-Thepercentageofcommute trips by mode used across the survey period. If respondents select more than one mode, they can be grouped e.g. public transport to include train, bus, ferry and walk, cycle or car trips to stations.

• Reasonsformodechoice-Tallythenumberoftimesa reason is selected; a breakdown of reasons by mode can be useful in understanding travel choices people make.

• Modesplitforbusinesstrips-Thepercentageofbusiness trips by mode/s used on the survey day.

4.2 Interpreting the results

The travel survey will highlight a range of information about travel at your organisation, this will include the following (see table 5):

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Question Analysis UseWhere did you travel from or what is your home suburb? Enter street address, at least suburb.

Estimate home to work distance using Google Maps (done automaticallyintheTravelSmartsurvey tool). Calculate average trip distance and breakdown mode of travel by distance categories.

Estimate emissions generated by travel to/from the workplace (using total car km and emissions factors).

Consider potential for change, e.g. target cycling

Demonstrate impact e.g. carbon emissions from employee commuting. You could compare with other workplace emissions.

For each day in a week, how did you traveltoandfromwork?Selecteachmode they used, for example walk, bus and train.

Calculate the number and proportion of trips by mode, i.e. % of trips as car driver alone.

Compare with other workplaces

Assesschangeovertimebycomparing figures before and after action (e.g. did use of active travel increase as intended?)

Why do you travel to/from work usingthesemodes?Selectfromoptions e.g. need to drop off children at childcare/school or no alternative available.

Calculate proportions by mode and reason

Consider what could be changed to make it easier to use alternatives to driving

How likely is it that you will change how you travel to work? What travel modes are you interested in changing to?

Tally interest in change by current and intended modes

Consider when developing actions and choosing target groups

Did you make any trips for business on given date (e.g. to meetings, for site inspections, to make deliveries)? If so, note where travelled to and modes used.

Calculate the number and proportion of trips by mode, i.e. % of trips as car driver alone

Estimate trip distances

Assesschangeovertimebycomparing figures before and after action (e.g. did use of travel alternatives increase as intended?)

Use in considering potential to change business trips

How likely is it that you will change how you make business trips? What travel modes are you interested in changing to?

Tally interest in change by current and intended modes

Consider when developing actions and choosing target groups

Does your workplace currently provide you with any of the following facilities or policies? E.g. free car parking at the workplace, flexible work hours.

Tally response by option Identify issues for attention, e.g. need to promote facilities if few staff know of them or high level of car commuting where workplace parking is provided

What is your gender? Tally Check how representative the sample is of the workforce (ask Human Resources Manager for breakdown for the workplace)

Is your work: full time, part time, casual, volunteer, other?

Tally Check how representative the sample is of the workforce (ask Human Resources Manager for breakdown for the workplace)

Table 5: Data analysis and use

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4.3 Sharing and using the results across the organisation

It is important to share the findings of the survey with all employees to demonstrate how their input has contributed to the development of the travel plan at your organisation.

Feedback can be provided by:

• Broadcastemail/intranetarticlewithkeyresultsandfindings from the survey

• Makingthetravelsurveyreportavailableontheintranet

• Providingfeedbacksummariestodiscussatteammeetings

• Summarypostersinlunchroomsornoticeboards.

Use the results to consider what action could be taken in the workplace to promote greater use of travel alternatives. If results show reduced solo car commuting then actions could be continued or business trips could be looked at to achieve more. If lots of staff live within cycling distance (10km is a 30 min bike ride at a moderate speed), but many drive, consider cycle training or a bike buddy scheme.

MONITORING SURVEYSFollow up surveys enable your organisation to monitor how successful you have been in achieving your stated travel objectives and targets. You can then consider how successful the actions you have put in place have been and whether you need to continue, replace or modify some of the actions you are implementing at your workplace.

Key points to consider for monitoring surveys

• Thesurveymethodsusedneedtobeconsistent-ifyouusedtheTravelSmartonlinesurveyyouneedtouse that again.

• Repeatyourfollowupsurveyannually.

• Thesurveyneedstoberepeatedatthesametimeofthe year to avoid the effects of seasonal variation.

• Thesurveyneedstorepeatthesamecorequestions.

Use other monitoring measures to supplement your travel survey results, these can include:

• Quarterlycountsofbicyclesinbikeparkingfacilities.

• Repeatingaccessauditsornotingdownanychanges to workplace facilities, policies and practices as a result of the plan.

Note: Follow the same travel survey process described here when completing follow up surveys

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WORKPLACE CHECKLIST

Question Your notesWhat is the purpose of your travel survey?

Haveyouconsideredhowthesizeandnatureof your organisation will determine survey methods, sampling design used?What survey method/s are you going to use?

What sampling design will you use?

Doyouneedtoconsiderthesamplingsize?

Have you chosen the timeframe for the survey?

Have you tested the survey at the workplace/s?

How are you going to communicate the travel survey to employees?

How are you going to maximise participation?

Who will undertake the analysis of the travel survey?(TravelSmartifonlinesurveytoolused)

How will you share the results across the organisation?

Have you scheduled in your follow up survey?

REFERENCESAmpt,RichardsonandWake2009Simpleandsuited:Guidelinesforworkplacetravelsurveys.PapertotheAustralasianTransportResearchForum,29September-1October2009,Auckland

SinclairKnightMerz2007TravelSmartWorkplaceSurveys:Recommendationofpreferredsurveymethods.ReportfortheWADepartmentofPlanningandInfrastructure.(AvailableonDepartmentofTransport’sTravelSmartwebsite)

TravelSmartWorkplaceishelpingWAworkplacesreducecar use and promote active, sustainable travel choices. The program is a partnership between the Department of Environment and Conservation and the Department of Transport.

To find out how your workplace can be part of the transportsolution,contactTravelSmartWorkplace:

MORE INFORMATIONFind out how your workplace can be part of the transport solution,contactTravelSmartWorkplace:

Department of Environment and Conservation

Phone:(08)64675011Email: travelsmart@dec.wa.gov.au

Department of Transport

Phone: (08) 6551 6000Email: travelsmart@transport.wa.gov.auWebsite: www.transport.wa.gov.au/travelsmart/work

The information contained in this publication is provided in good faith and believedtobeaccurateattimeofpublication.TheStateshallinnowaybeliableforanylosssustainedorincurredbyanyonerelyingontheinformation.042013PublishedApril2013.Printedonrecycledpaper.