A specific objective of this scan of recent travel surveys is to facilitate the exchange of information among agencies and individuals having an interest in the design and conduct of household and other types of travel surveys. The information contained in this report complements the companion "Travel Survey Manual", published as part of the Travel Model Improvement Program (TMIP). The "Travel Survey Manual" is a reference document describing accepted practices and recent advancements for the most common types of travel surveys. Four purposes guided the development of this scan: to determine the general state-of-the-practice of travel surveys in this country; to identify the types of surveys being conducted, and the frequency of data collection; to compare United States survey practices to travel survey procedures being used in other countries; and, to assess the degree to which emerging state-of-the-art survey techniques are being introduced into practice.

The U.S. Dept. of Transport. (DoT) Strategic Plan for FY 1997-2002 identifies 5 performance goals: safety, mobility, econ. growth & trade, human & natural environ., & nat. security. DoT conducts the NPTS to obtain info. on personal travel of U.S. households with respect to why, how, when, where from, where to, how frequently, how long, & with whom. The NPTS also provides info. by subgroups of the pop., e.g., by age, gender, race, zero-vehicle households, which allows important policy analyses of how transport. serves these groups. This report provides the results of the 1995 NPTS of travel by the civilian, non-institutionalized pop. age 5 & older.

Identifies various challenges to the world community of transport survey specialists as well as the larger constituency of practitioners, planners, and decision-makers that it serves and provides potential solutions and recommendations for addressing them.

This report identifies the types and sources of person travel data likely to be used for statewide transportation planning and presents procedures for developing sampling plans and survey designs for conducting travel surveys to collect the required travel information. Sampling concepts, formulas, and survey administration guidelines are documented for conducting statewide and regional household travel surveys, intercity modal passenger surveys, and roadside surveys. Both cross- sectional and seasonal survey designs are evaluated. Procedures are presented for estimating required sample sizes for alternative types of survey estimates of interest in statewide transportation planning. The application of these procedures is illustrated using "real world" sampling problems. The influence of alternative levels of precision on sample size requirements is presented in the report.