Re: [CTPP] American Commuter Survey (ACS): The Means of Transportation Question

Ken, I think it best to clarify what exists today, as opposed to creating "new" categories, in order that comparisons may be made (albeit with caveats) to the past. Therefore, I think that light rail is often a "street" mode and most users would have been answering "Streetcar or trolley rail" because they all ride in the street. And, like Krishnan, for clarity, I like the use of "Rail - " as a prefix. So, placing the most frequent answers first in the list within each response, I'm in favor of: __ Rail - light rail, streetcar, or trolley __ Rail - subway, metro, or elevated __ Rail - commuter rail or Amtrak Rob PS It's sort of picky, but I think "commuter rail" is more common and more accurate than "commuter railroad" (the actual "railroad" can be owned by one company and used by it for freight, by Amtrak, and by a commuter rail outfit). Robert B. Case, PE, PTOE Principal Transportation Engineer Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization The Regional Building, 723 Woodlake Dr, Chesapeake, VA 23320 rcase(a)hrtpo.org| http://www.hrtpo.org| Phone: 757.420.8300 | Fax: 757.523.4881 All email correspondence to and from this address is subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and to the Virginia Public Records Act, which may result in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement. -----Original Message----- From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Ken.Cervenka(a)dot.gov Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 4:24 PM To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net Subject: [CTPP] American Commuter Survey (ACS): The Means of Transportation Question Hello, As you may know, the Census Bureau's "means of transportation" question on the current American Community Survey questionnaire (as well as the previous Census 2000 "long form") is as follows: How did this person usually get to work LAST WEEK? If this person usually used more than one method of transportation during the trip, mark (X) the box of the one used for most of the distance. __ Car, truck, or van __ Bus or trolley bus __ Streetcar or trolley car __ Subway or elevated __ Railroad __ Ferryboat __ Taxicab __ Motorcycle __ Bicycle __ Walked __ Worked at home __ Other method Here at U.S. DOT, we (meaning FTA, FHWA, and BTS) are discussing whether updated descriptions might make more sense for the three public transportation categories associated with use of rail: __ Streetcar or trolley car __ Subway or elevated __ Railroad However, any changes to these three categories (or even collapsing these to a single "rail transit" category) will, if ultimately approved for testing, require a formal and carefully-controlled "ACS content change" test to be conducted by the Census Bureau in 2013 and 2014. So this is a very big deal. If three rail-related categories are maintained, here is one approach under consideration for future testing: __ Streetcar or trolley rail __ Subway, metro, or light rail __ Commuter railroad or Amtrak Or maybe a variation that makes it clear(er) each of these choices refer to a rail transit mode: __ Rail - streetcar or trolley __ Rail - subway, metro, or light rail __ Rail - commuter railroad or Amtrak If you have any comments about what seems to make the most sense from the viewpoint of a future ACS respondent and/or transportation data analyst, please send me an email and I will summarize all comments received in a future email to this listserv (along with your name as the author, unless you wish to be anonymous). But feel free to reply directly to this listserv with your observations! Ken Cervenka FTA Office of Planning and Environment 202/493-0512 _______________________________________________ ctpp-news mailing list ctpp-news(a)ryoko.chrispy.net http://ryoko.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news