Origin/Destination

Surveys for Express

Bus Services

Methodology Technical Memorandum

July 2011

Origin/Destination Surveys for Express Bus Services

Methodology Technical Memorandum

Table of Contents

STUDY PURPOSE

METHODOLOGY

DATA COLLECTION

Survey instrument

survey implementation

project schedule

Minimization of Non-ResponseS

DATA reduction

documentation

presentations

Coordination

Figures

Figure 1 – Express Bus Routes

Figure 2 – Survey Instrument

Figure 3 – Surveyor Orientation

Figure 4 – Proposed Schedule for Express Bus Origin - Destination Surveys

TABLES

Table 1 – Ridership

Table 2 – Survey Log

Table 3 – Origin – Destination Based on Survey Information

Table 4 – Survey Distribution by Station

Origin/Destination Surveys for Express Bus Services

Methodology Technical Memorandum

STUDY PURPOSE

The purpose of this study is to collect travel origin-destination data for express bus routes in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties and to assist in Miami-Dade County’s planned expansion of express bus services. This study will focus on the express bus routes along Interstate 95. This data collection effort is to help support transit modeling efforts while meeting FTA guidelines. The data collected will be utilized to help calibrate and validate the regional travel demand model and to help identify the travel characteristics of the express bus riders in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. The data will also be used to determine how far (travel shed) express bus riders are willing to travel to reach an express park and ride facility and to determine the number of non-symmetrical round trips that are being made on the express routes. As well, FDOT has required collection of operational data from the I-95 Express routes for reporting purposes to FTA and the required data will be collected as part of this data effort.

METHODOLOGY

The survey will consist of two parts, boarding/alighting door counts and a survey. Origin and destination surveys will be conducted on the express bus routes in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. Five express bus routes will be surveyed, three operated by Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) and two operated by Broward County Transit (BCT) systems. Origin and Destination Surveys will be conducted on the following routes:

  • MDT Route 95 - I-95 Express (with trips ending at Civic Center, Government Center, Brickell, Omni, and Earlington Heights)
  • MDT Route 195 - Dade-Broward Express (Broward Blvd)
  • MDT Route 195 - Dade-Broward Express (Sheridan St)
  • BCT Route 107 - I-95 Express (Pembroke Pines)
  • BCT Route 108 - I-95 Express (Miramar)

The five Express Bus Routes are presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – Express Bus Routes

DATA COLLECTION

The following is a list of previous transit studies and data collection efforts involving transit service within similar corridors:

  • Miami-Dade Transit On-Off Counts (CUTR)
  • Miami-Dade Transit Easy Card Records
  • North Corridor Transit Ridership Surveys
  • Data collection for FEC Corridor
  • Metrorail On-Board Survey
  • 95 Express Survey Report 2010

Where applicable, data from this express bus study will be compared to the data collected as part of these previous work efforts to check reasonableness.

The latest ridership statistics for the study express bus corridors will be researched and used in the development of the number of surveys to hand out at each express bus route. Table 1 shows the most recent ridership statistics for the different routes. In addition, the current bus schedule for each express bus corridor will be reviewed to assist in the survey implementation for identifying the number of surveyors needed for each corridor and the most efficient order for the survey execution.

Table 1– Ridership

Using the survey instrument below, our goal is to survey a total of 100% of the express bus riders on each individual route on each day. The days of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be utilized. Our sample size for each route will consist of providing a survey to 100% of the riders for a minimum response rate of 50%.

Page1

Origin/Destination Surveys for Express Bus Services

Methodology Technical Memorandum

Survey instrument

The survey instrument will be a questionnaire distributed to express bus riders on the study routes. Questionnaires will be available in three languages: English, Spanish and Creole. The Express Bus survey will be developed to maximize and produce the best possible response rates. This questionnaire will be developed to collect the following data:

  • Trip origin and destination
  • Trip purpose at origin and destination
  • Round trip information including non-symmetrical return trip mode
  • Access and egress mode to express bus
  • Transit transfer information
  • Express bus trip frequency
  • Start time of trip
  • Fare payment method
  • Socio-Economic Data
  • Does rider have a driver’s license?
  • Number of drivers in household
  • Number of people in household
  • Number of workers in household

The draft survey questionnaire (6/13/11)is shown in Figure 2. Additional information will be collected by the surveyors related to the following:

  • On-board passenger counts (both daily and by time of day)
  • Stop boardings and alightings by time of day

Page 1

Origin/Destination Surveys for Express Bus Services

Methodology Technical Memorandum

Figure 2– Survey Instrument

survey implementation

The origin and destination surveys will be conducted on each of the five express bus routes independently. They will be conducted as an all day (5:30 AM to 8:10PM) stop/station on-board survey on a typical weekday. Each route will be surveyed on a separate day. These surveys will be implemented on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday during a normal work week and during the school year.

The surveys will be administered by trained personnel. The origin and destination survey preparation will include training for the surveyors to review guidelines for handing out survey questionnaires, answering questions, asking follow-up questions related to missing data as well as appropriate behavior for interaction with the public. Staff Personnel from MDT and the MPO will be solicited to assist with the survey administration. Surveyor identification badges will be provided for all survey personnel. Figure 3 shows a proposed training workshop outline for the surveyors.

Figure 3– Surveyor Orientation

Miami-Dade MPO

Origin-Destination Surveys for Express Bus Services

Surveyor Orientation

Location: TBD

Date: TBD

  1. Introductions
  2. Project Background and Overview
  3. Express Bus Routes to be Studied
  4. Survey Questionnaire
  5. Other Survey Materials
  6. Engaging Riders about Surveys
  7. Method of Distribution of Surveys
  8. Survey Follow-up For Missing Data
  9. Survey Demonstration/Role-Play
  10. Counting Boardings/Alightings at Stops
  11. Survey Information Letter
  12. Breaks
  13. Appearance/Dress
  14. Safety
  15. Schedule & Survey Time Periods
  16. Survey Assignments
  17. Contact Information

The survey questionnaires will be handed out to the express bus riders as they board the bus. The questionnaires will be distributed out with a pen or pencil to assist in filling out the survey. Express bus riders will be directed to fill out the survey questionnaire and return it to one of the surveyors on-board the bus before they exit at their stop. Surveyors will make themselves available to answer any questions from the participants. Letters describing the study purpose and contact information will be available on each bus to any express bus rider upon request. Survey questionnaires will be handed out to all boarding riders on the surveyed routes during the survey period.

At this time it is anticipated that one surveyor will be assigned to each run. The surveyor on each express bus will also document the boardings and alightings at each bus stop by time of day. Survey questionnaires handed out to riders will have special identification (markings, colors, etc.) to allow for these survey responses to be isolated for analysis of the trip characteristics. Table 1 shows a typical route log for the surveyor to use to track the boardings and alightings for each Express Bus Route.

Table 2 – Survey Log

project schedule

These Origin and Destination Surveys will be conducted in late summer 2011 after the 2011/2012 school years begin in the Miami-Dade County and Broward County primary schools, colleges, and universities. It is anticipated that the surveys will be conducted in late August or early September 2011. A proposed schedule for the implementation of the origin and destination studies is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4– Proposed Schedule for Express Bus Origin-Destination Surveys

Minimization of Non-ResponseS

The survey will be implemented to maximize response rates and analyzed for best results. Different strategies will be used.

Survey Instrument

-Shorter survey instruments are more likely to be completed than longer ones

-Comprehensive survey to include essential questions

-Refined with comments from FDOT District 4 and 6, BCT, and MDT

-The less complicated the language, the better the results

Implementation – use of trained personnel and methods used to encourage surveys to be fully completed

-Notification of upcoming survey in advance of implementation

-Participation of survey distributors should include providing encouragementand being knowledgeable

-Pre-screening of surveyors

-A pretest will be conducted

DATA reduction

The data collected from the survey instrument and log sheet will be entered manually into a database using Microsoft Excel for use inregional modeling.

The survey data will be entered electronically and summarized by TAZ districts. The TAZ districts will be developed to aid in the summary of the survey data. These TAZ districts will be groupings of the TAZs from the latest Southeast Regional Planning Model (SERPM) TAZ structure, currently the SERPM version 6.5. The TAZs will be grouped in a logical manner using geographical, transportation or political boundaries. The survey responses will not be geocoded.

The data collected from the surveys will also be analyzed for unanswered or unrecognizable answers. Although the survey instrument was developed to produce a maximum response rate, review and analysis of previous survey instruments responses provided in the region in the last several years, indicate that the expectation is that a minimum response rate of 50% out of 100% of riders surveyed is most probably. Illogical travel patterns and survey responses will be noted and corrected if an interpretation of the respondent’s intent can be ascertained (i.e. access and egress locations mixed up). One missing question will not invalidate an entire survey, however, survey responses may need to be discarded due to irregularities.

A table listing the survey distribution of each route will be included. An Origin – Destination Matrix with response rates will also be included. A table of each bus route and their direct count schedules, survey logs and their ons/off will be included in an attached appendix. The survey instrument utilized will also be attached as an appendix.

Table 3 – Origin – Destination Based on Survey Information

Table 4 – Survey Distribution by Station

ROUTE / Station / No. of Surveys
Route 95 / Aventura Mall
Golden Glades East Parking Lot
Golden Glades West Parking Lot
Earlington Heights Station
NW 36 St & East Drive Miami Springs
NW 41 St & 97 Ave
NW 36 St & 87 Ave
Veterans Hospital
SE 1 ST & 1 Ave
Brickell Plaza
Adrianne Archt Mover / Bus Terminal
NE 36 ST & Biscayne Blve
Route 195 / Fort Lauderdale Station
Sheridan Street Tri-Rail
NW 8 St & NW 1
SE 1 St & 1 Ave
Route 107 / CB AND Smith Park and Ride
Pines Blvd & Flamingo Rd
Pines Blvd & University Dr
Pines Blvd Gov Center (NB Only)
Hollywood & US 441
Hollywood Tri-Rail Staton
NW 8 St & NW 1 Ave
NW 5 St & NW 1 Ave
Miami-Dade Gov. Center
Downtown Miami Bus Terminal
SW 1 St & S. Miami Ave
Route 108 / Miramar Town Center
NW 16 St & 12 Ave
Civic Center Metrorail Center
NW 14 St & 12 Ave
NW 8 St & NW 1 Ave
NW 5 St & NW 1 Ave
Miami-Dade Gov. Center
Downtown Miami Bus Terminal
SW 1 St & S. Miami Ave
TOTAL

documentation

The methodology technical memorandum, implementation and results of the origin and destination study will be summarized in a report and distributed to the Miami-Dade MPO and other project stakeholders. In addition to the study report, the raw survey data and summarized survey data will be provided to the stakeholders.

presentations

A presentation will be made to the Miami-Dade MPO discussing the origin and destination surveys and the survey results. Presentations to other stakeholders may also be conducted.

Coordination

Coordination with MDT and BCT will be conducted prior to the days of surveying to receive permissions and notifications from bus drivers and riders. Regular project updates will be provided to project stakeholders, including Miami-Dade MPO, Miami-Dade Transit and Broward County Transit.

Page 1