pooled fund Projects
In development
Urban Transportation Indicators Fifth Survey
| Research Area | Urban transportation planning |
| Responsible Council / Committee | Urban Transportation Council Transportation Planning and Research Standing Committee |
| Related TAC publications | Urban Transportation Indicators Survey series |
| Expected Start Date | TBD |
| Expected Duration | |
| Total Funding Estimate | $195,000 |
| Project Funding Partners to Date | Ontario Ministry of Transportation, City of Montréal, City of Calgary, City of Saskatoon, Translink |
| Staff Contact | Katarina Cvetkovic |
Abstract
The fifth Urban Transportation Indicators (UTI) Survey will be the latest in a series of surveys that have, individually and collectively, provided an important picture of transportation behaviour and trends in Canadian urban areas. The overall goal of this survey program is to build a consistent and reliable database about urban transportation and develop indicators for Canadian municipalities and transportation stakeholders.
This new project will build on TAC’s four previous UTI surveys, conducted in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2008. The fifth survey will be based on reference year 2011, based upon the data collected during the 2011 Canadian Census and National Household Survey.
The conclusion of the Urban Transportation Indicators fourth survey suggested that the scope of the survey questionnaire may have grown through the years to the point where the return on the efforts is less effective. Prior to conducting the fifth survey, a first phase of this project will be a comprehensive review of the linkages between indicators and source data to ensure the survey methodology, level of effort required by study participants and the results obtained are consistent with the various stakeholders’ expectations and can be sustained over the longer term planning horizon for the survey.
In conducting the fifth UTI survey, collaboration of representatives of each of the 33 Canadian census metropolitan areas (CMAs) will be critical to success. Work led by the consultant and project steering committee will include the following steps:
- Establish key geography for all metropolitan areas. Examine issues associated with CMAs and urban units having changing boundaries over time. Investigate ways to better account for the geographic variability that exists for many transportation indicators within the largest CMAs.
- Obtain and process all the higher- level data and commercial sourced data as needed for the UTI study.
- Develop and issue surveys to participating municipalities and manage data collection. In larger urban areas, coordination across many municipalities, agencies and levels of jurisdiction will also be necessary to ensure data quality and consistency.
- Process and analyse all the data, including under a time-series perspective of the new streamlined indicators.