Transport Patterns and Preferences, Tasmania

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    NAME OF ORGANISATION
    Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

    OVERVIEW
    This once-only survey collected information on travel patterns and preferences in Tasmania. It was conducted as a supplementary to the October 1997 Monthly Labour Force Survey

    The target populations were Tasmanian private households; usual residents of private dwellings aged 18 years and over; and children aged 5-17.

    The questions on household shopping trip and the child's journey to school (sections A and B) were asked of a responsible adult; other questions were asked of one randomly selected respondent per household (aged 18 years or over).

    Principal data items for households included details of the usual main household shopping trip including the mode of transport used; reason for not using public transport; when trip undertaken (including day of week/time of day); and other activities undertaken concurrently with shopping.

    Principal data items for all persons aged 18 or more included details of:

    1. last trip from home other than journey to work/education trip including purpose of trip; transport mode; reason for not using public transport; and problems with public transport; and
    2. any trip not taken due to transport constraints including type of constraint.

    Principal data items for employed persons/ persons attending education full-time aged 18 or more included details of usual journey to work/education trip including mode; reason for mode preference; concerns about public transport; type of car parking used and costs; time taken to get to work/education and why do/don't take passengers if usually driving.

    Principal data items for children aged 5-17 included details of usual home to school trip, including all and main modes of transport used, reasons why public transport is not used, time left home and time taken to get to school; as well as usual trip from school, including time leaves school and main mode of transport used.

    PURPOSE
    The users have identified transport preferences as the major topic. Together with travel pattern information, the supplementary survey results will provide input into the development of State policy and regional strategies in Tasmania, for the next few years.

    Survey results will be of direct benefit to the Department of Environment and Land Management; the Department of Transport; the Metropolitan Transport Trust (Metro); private public transport operators and local government in providing information about the modes of transport that are used (and reasons for these choices), time spent in travelling to work and other destinations and the costs of car parking.

    Data from this survey will also provide insights into existing information available from other sources (for example, Department of Transport vehicle flows, Metro's passenger statistics and the ABS journey to work data and Survey of Motor Vehicle Usage). This will add significant value to these other data sets.

    This survey will provide benchmark information that could be incorporated in the State of Environment Report, which is required every five years under the Resource Management and Planning System in order to monitor and review the effectiveness of State policies and other planning instruments.

    An example of where this type of additional information would be useful is in the work of the Urban Management Program Group (UMPG). The UMPG has been established with the aim of integrating infrastructure and land use planning in a sustainable development framework. The UMPG comprises the general managers of seven local government councils in the Hobart region and senior executives of the following State government agencies:
    • Community and Health Services;
    • Education, Community and Cultural Development;
    • Environment and Land Management;
    • Transport; and
    • the Water Resources Division of the Department of Primary Industries.

    Administrative support is provided by the Planning Division of the Department of Environment and Land Management.

    For the main focus of strategic planning and management, the UMPG has endorsed the development of a regional strategy for the greater Hobart region with the initial priority being the development of an Integrated Land Use and Transport Strategy. To date, activities have focused on developing the structure of the strategy. The outcomes of this survey, together with other information sources will provide valuable information for developing and reviewing the Strategy.

    Similar strategic alliances between State government and local governments to pursue regional strategic planning are envisaged in the future for north and north west Tasmania. The survey results would provide useful information for these areas. Results of the survey would be utilized across the State, not just for Greater Hobart.

    SCOPE
    Scope
    The Transport Patterns and Preferences Survey was conducted as supplementary to the Monthly Labour Force Survey. For the Transport Patterns and Preferences Survey, all usual residents of private dwellings aged 18 years and over were in scope. Special dwellings and visitors to private dwellings were excluded.
    Other normal Labour Force exclusions apply to scope and coverage, for example:
    • members of the permanent defence forces;
    • certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from census and estimated populations;
    • overseas residents in Australia;
    • members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia; and
    • Jervis Bay Territory.
    Coverage
    In the Labour Force Survey, coverage rules are applied that aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling, and hence has only one chance of selection. The chance of a person being enumerated at two separate dwellings in the one survey is considered to be negligible.

    DATA DETAIL

    Conceptual framework
    As the data was collected as supplementary to the Monthly Labour Force Survey, some data can be cross-classified with data from that Labour Force Survey. For example:

    • Age;
    • Sex;
    • Employment status; and,
    • Full-time/part-time employment status.

    Main outputs
    Results from the survey will available in a publication (Transport Patterns and Preferences, Tasmania, ABS Cat No. 9201.6) and in additional user tables. In some cases, additional unpublished cross-classifications of data items will be available.

    Population:
    • Tasmanian civilian population aged 18 and over (journeys to work/education, last trip from home);
    • Tasmanian households (shopping trips); and
    • Tasmanian civilian population aged 5 to 17 (journey to school)

    The main data items:
    • details regarding shopping, work and education trips;
    • method (s) of transport used for shopping, work and education trips;
    • concerns with public transport for shopping, work and education trips;
    • frequency and timing of shopping trips;
    • duration of trips to work and education;
    • type and cost of parking and concerns with parking;
    • passenger details;
    • method of transport used in 'other trips';
    • concerns with public transport for 'other trips'; and
    • transport constraints.

    Data breakdowns: data will be disaggregated at the Tasmanian level. Further disaggregations include age and sex; statistical division and urban/rural split.

    Classifications
    A. Classifications from the Monthly Labour Force Survey

    • Employment status
    • Full-time/part-time status
    • Personal characteristics: age, sex
    • Geography: Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC)
    • Households with children present

    B. Main classifications from:

    Transport Patterns and Preferences, NSW
    Travel to Work, School and Shops, VIC
    Environmental Issues: People's Views and Practices

    Other concepts (summary)
    Glossary
    Household
    A group of people who live together (in a single dwelling) as a single unit in the sense that they have common housekeeping arrangements: some common provision for food and other essentials of living.

    Major household shopping trip
    The shopping trip in which the value of food and groceries was the greatest. It did not include households that shopped a small amount each day or when non-household member did the shopping.

    Main method of transport
    If more than one method of transport were used, the main method relates to the form of transport that the respondent spent the most time using.

    Household motor vehicle
    Is one owned or used by members of a household, parked at or near the dwelling (includes work vehicle if driven by householder or vehicle provided by employer).

    Public transport
    Public transport refers to a passenger transport service that is provided by a third party and is available for use by all members of the community. The third party can be a bus company (Metro, private bus line, community bus services etc), a private ferry company or the like. Public transport excludes taxis, public motor vehicles where there is no third party involved, and car pools.

    Studying full-time
    Study was defined as "full-time" if the institution advertised the course as full-time, or if the respondent's perception was that they were studying full-time.

    Area
    Persons included in the survey were selected from households in blocks within a Collector's District (CD) or selected CDs. An urban CD is composed of an area which is metropolitan urban, bounded by streets and has more than 200 inhabitants. An urban CD can also be located in a town or bounded rural locality which has 200 or more inhabitants. Persons from households in urban CDs have been included in estimates of urban populations. Persons in all other CDs have been included in estimates of rural populations. These are persons in bounded localities with less than 200 persons or in unbounded areas which include occupied dwellings.

    Employed persons
    Aged 18 years and over and usually work 15 hours or more a week in a job, business or farm or without pay in a family business. Persons were included if they had a job, business or farm, but were away from it because of holidays, sickness or for any other reason.

    Place of education
    The secondary school, TAFE, university or other educational institution at which persons aged 18 and over studied full-time.

    Region
    Refer to Statistical Geography, Volume 1: Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) (ABS Cat No. 1216.0) for more details. The three major statisitcal regions in Tasmania are Greater Hobart and Southern, Northern, and Mersey-Lyell.

    Other trip
    The last trip from home made prior to the interview, other than main household shopping trips, trips to work/education, and dropping off/picking up children from school.

    GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
    Tasmania
    Statistical Division

    Comments and/or Other Regions
    not applicable

    COLLECTION FREQUENCY
    Once Only

    Frequency comments
    not applicable

    COLLECTION HISTORY
    Not applicable. This is a once-only survey.

    DATA AVAILABILITY
    Yes

    Data availability comments
    Published 26 May 1998


    DATE OF LAST UPDATE FOR THIS DOCUMENT
    03/05/2002 09:52 AM