Understanding Vancouver’s Travel Patterns
The 2024 Vancouver Travel Survey is an annual survey aimed at understanding the daily travel choices of Vancouver residents. This is the twelfth year of the City of Vancouver’s Transportation Survey. The survey helps to identify and track trends in sustainable transportation, as outlined in the City of Vancouver’s Transportation 2040 Plan, including the total number of trips, mode share, and vehicle-kilometres travelled. This survey, conducted by Malatest on behalf of the City of Vancouver, plays a crucial role in shaping the future of transportation in the City.
Survey Questions and Outreach
The 2024 Vancouver Travel Survey will gather information about the trips residents made on the previous weekday. This is done by surveying a random sample of households in the City of Vancouver. Invitations will be mailed to randomly selected households throughout October 2024. Additionally, this project has a sub-group of panellists who participate annually in the survey. Panelists are sent email invitations and updates about each cycle of data collection. Each year, new recruits to the survey are given the option to join the survey panel to participate in future data collection cycles.
The data we collect includes household and demographic information, trip details such as trip start times, trip modes, purposes and any transit routes used during the trips. Our goal is to create a detailed picture of the travel choices made by the residents of Vancouver. As a token of our appreciation, we have arranged for a collection of great prizes and incentives to encourage residents to participate. Participants can win one of ten $100 cash prizes or one of one hundred $25 gift cards to a local merchant. For more information, please visit www.vantripsurvey.ca.
Malatest’s Role in the Project
Malatest has extensive experience conducting travel surveys. We host an online survey platform utilizing our Triptelligence™ survey software. This allows participants the flexibility to complete the survey online or by phone, making it more accessible to a broader audience. Our methodology includes sampling from the universe of the City’s households with and without listed telephone numbers. This process ensures that collected data is representative of Vancouver’s diverse population, including young households, newcomers to Canada, and households without a landline phone.
In efforts to oversample certain sub-groups, our methodology also includes options for participants to invite other members of their household to complete the survey. Special campaigns also promote the survey to younger demographics who are typically underrepresented in survey research. Oversampling important population sub-groups allows us to gather data from a greater number of individuals to ensure that results adequately represent the travel patterns of various populations in Vancouver, which may otherwise be too underrepresented to report on.
Empowering Decision-Makers
The data collected through the Vancouver Travel Survey plays a crucial role in helping the City make informed transportation planning and investment decisions for the City’s residents. View previous reports on survey results here.
Photo Credit: City of Vancouver
