CTR data refresh interview summary and recommendations
WSDOT Public Transportation Division
May 2020
Key points
WSDOT conducted 32 interviews related to the Commute Trip Reduction survey. This document summarizes these interviews and provides draft recommendations based on our analysis.
It is recommended that the new survey be shorter, consisting of only four questions, with built in skip logic, and updated modes.
It is recommended that the new survey be environmentally friendly, on-line only, mobile-device friendly, with translations built into the instrument.
It is recommended that all reports be displayed in a dashboard or other visual format, with simple download of raw data and graphics.
Interviews
In March 2020, WSDOT invited all grantees to participate in 45-minute phone interviews related to the Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) survey and data products. In an effort to be inclusive, participants were also asked to suggest anyone else that WSDOT should speak with, including Employee Transportation Coordinators (ETCs). The suggested people were then also invited to participate in an interview.
The goal of these initial interviews was to gather information about what is going well and what changes are desired by program participants. Overall, there was considerable, positive energy on the part of interviewees, and a general sense the CTR data is valuable and useful.
The interview questions were divided into three topic areas including:
- Survey format
- Survey questions
- Data products
The following discussion summarizes the information we gathered from the interviewees.
Participants
In total, WSDOT conducted 32 interviews. Twenty-eight of the interviews were in-person, while four were written responses to the survey questions. We heard from 17 employers, 11 jurisdictions, two Transportation Management Associations (TMA), and one representative of a building complex required to submit a Transportation Management Plan (TMP) to their jurisdiction.
While interviewees were largely based in the Puget Sound region, six of the nine CTR counties were represented overall: King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, and Thurston. Interviewees ranged broadly in their experience working with CTR. The average number of years interviewees have been engaged with CTR is 7.2. Interviewees worked with between one and 500 worksites. We spoke with representatives from a variety of industry types.
General questions
The interviews consisted of nine questions.
The following summaries include the counts, out of 32, that interviewees show a preference toward a response/suggestion. Because of the open nature of interviews, some questions may have more than 32 responses as interviewees indicated multiple responses. Conversely, some questions went unanswered or were not relevant to a specific interviewee. Some aggregations of responses may also appear small as they might affect jurisdiction representatives or employee transportation coordinators, but not both.
1. What is the most important thing you would like to tell us about the CTR survey?
There are not obvious groupings of responses for this question. For every interviewee, there is a different story, reflecting the diversity of people interviewed. Some noteworthy quotes include:
“Amazing we have a CTR law and we can get data down to companies.”
“Already a model in the country, we could take it up and really elevate it.”
“Use data from the survey constantly–performance measures, get a lot of inquiries, use internally.”
“Time consuming to survey and to convince people to survey but definitely use the data.”
“Make it so easy that employers can and will deploy it once per year.”
“South King County needs are similar but different from Seattle, [the] majority of sites are manufacturing and warehouses.”
“Paper is very important but very old school… want to make sure these people still have an option to take the survey.”
“Not offering a paper survey because it is labor intensive and would like to get them over to the online survey.”
“Trust in taking the survey is eroding as the survey ages”
“[We] collect information every day; Push LUUM integration; Every two years is not useful”
“Opportunity to discuss with ETCs is the benefit of the survey rather than specific data.”
As shown by the range of sentiment in the quotations, it is important to remember that CTR participation is influenced by many factors: interest, funding, technical capability, size, challenges, et cetera. The key is to try to meet as many of the needs as possible while creating a well-balanced program that creates CTR improvements throughout the entire state.
2. Describe your ideal CTR surveying experience.
A majority of interviewees mentioned streamlining the survey to make it shorter, or potentially have “skip logic” (i.e., an answer to a question will cause other questions to be skipped if they are no longer relevant). There was also discussion of improving the processes behind the scenes, such as setting up new sites, or having a site initiate a survey to reduce the jurisdiction’s administrative burden.
Updating the appearance of the survey and providing more trainings from WSDOT, be it in video or in person format, were other ideas that resonated with groups of interviewees. Comments on the need for sampling and equivalent data highlight WSDOT’s need to better disseminate information about our policies as sampling is allowed for large employers and we accept equivalent data from calendaring programs (e.g., LUUM) or surveys that worksites create and administer themselves.
Survey format
3. In the future, we will only offer an online survey. How can we help you make the transition to online only surveying?
A majority of interviewees are already using the online survey exclusively or are amenable to having the survey be online only in the future if it is mobile friendly. WSDOT already provides PDF translations for the survey in multiple languages, but there is a desire for the translations to be built into an online tool.
The interviewees that indicated that online surveying was not an option did an excellent job explaining the nature of the employees and survey participants who would be hard to capture, including hotel, manufacturing, or airport workers. A common feature of employees who are thought to not be able to take an online survey is no access to a work computer, no work email address, and no time allotted by employers to participate in the survey (with many asked to take the survey over lunch or a break). These sites rarely have strong CTR programs, and we discussed the possibility of surveying them less frequently if they are not in a position to use the data in a meaningful way.
Survey questions
4. In response to comments that the survey is too long, WSDOT is considering a modular approach to the survey:
a. What do you do with the information in questions 1-2?
The first two questions of the survey are designed to inform on whether an employee is CTR affected, meaning their position is scheduled to last for 12 contiguous months or more (this information is not captured by the survey), they work full time, and start their work day during the morning weekday peak-period. A majority of interviewees reported not using information from these questions at all. Some employers noted that they cared about all employees or about employees that work full time and start at other times. A general sense was that the survey should be able to capture information about everyone that an employee or jurisdiction might be interested in.
b. What do you do with the information in questions 3-6?
The middle set of questions is related to people’s home zip code, distance traveled to work, longest mode used to get to work (for each day), and the vehicle occupancy if a person used a vanpool or carpool. Of greatest interest to interviewees was information about origins and destinations by mode, which some used to assist their work in forming carpool, vanpools, and private shuttles.
c. What do you do with the information in questions 7-12?
The final set of survey questions deal with people’s work schedules (e.g., compressed work week, teleworking), if their reported commute was typical, parking costs, and the reasons for why they choose to/not to drive alone to work. Interviewees generally used information about work schedules and the respondents’ preferred demand management strategies to formulate their own programs and incentives.
5. Do the survey questions meet your CTR needs?
Many interviewees felt that the survey currently met, or came close to meeting, their CTR survey needs. Some interviewees requested small changes–e.g., additional mode options such as private shuttles and TNCs. There was also some interest in asking questions about the full set of modes used during a trip not just the longest one, which needs to be balanced against general comments that the survey is too long or difficult. Finally, there were some comments that there need to be larger discussions about CTR with respect to the role of the survey in an ever changing world, and with respect to the lack of affordable housing in Washington’s cities.
6. What decisions do you make based off of the CTR survey data?
Jurisdictions generally use the survey to help them decide which employers to focus their attention on. In contrast, most employers use the survey to gauge performance and set their own goals or decide on programs to implement. It should be noted that there is a divide within the employers. Of the interviewees we spoke with, those with successful programs and high non-drive alone rates, also have their own data collection methods, such as calendaring programs and passive data collection. These employers rely on frequent information that they themselves collect to make decisions. Conversely, employers without these tools tend to use the information provided from the CTR survey.
Data products
There is overwhelming support for WSDOT moving its data products to a more interactive and visual format, and to provide maps, industry and area comparisons, and location-specific demand management strategies.
7. Please choose one of the following:
- “I/my organization would like the CTR survey data reports to be more interactive and visual”, OR
- “I/my organization does not want the current reporting information to change format”
“Dashboard would be better to communicate to upper management”
“Amazing if given a dashboard, but still want the granular level”
“It would improve people’s perception of the data”
8. How would you use the following:
a. Transportation demand management strategy suggestions based on your location and survey results
b. Comparisons between worksites that are nearby or similar industry types
“This really speaks to leadership–this would help drive change”
c. Origin-destination heat maps by mode
Initial summary
Staff review and analysis
After interviews were completed, the project team convened 11 Public Transportation Division staff members to conduct thematic analysis of the interviews. Each staff member was asked to read several interview summaries and prepare to represent the views they read. We then conducted a workshop where the main topic areas were discussed (general comments, survey format, survey questions, data products, policy, and other). For each category, each staff member was asked to place a virtual sticky note on an online board indicating whether the ideas seemed more or less important, and required low to high level of effort.
This exercise led to many groups of three or four interviewees making similar comments. Four major concepts were seen from many interviewees:
- Visualizations and dashboards are in high demand (19)
- Heat maps by mode would be helpful (13)
- Comparisons between similar industries and areas would be helpful (9)
- Questions 1 and 2 are not useful (6)
Once the initial sorting was complete, similar ideas were grouped and major themes were drawn out. Staff discussed which ideas should be carried forward with an eye to what was the most beneficial to the most people statewide. We then compared these findings to our role and project scope, which guided our process for drafting a set of recommendations for proposed changes to the survey.
The major themes from the interviews included:
Survey questions
Tension between simplifying/shortening and getting additional information
- e.g. remove questions 7-12 VS add trip-chaining and supplemental questions
Clarify questions
- Add more options for amount of telework
- Build in logic to help accurately capture telework and compressed work weeks in mode choice
- Update modes with Puget Sound focused options—e.g., TNCs and employer shuttles
- Add skip logic
Survey everyone at a worksite?
- Remove questions 1-2 that determine CTR-affected status?
Survey format
Improve user experience and interface
Provide many options when we eliminate ScanTron (current) paper surveys
- Mobile device friendly
- Kiosks/Tablets
- Additional translations (and on-line)
- Won’t work for all
- Exempt some sites from surveying requirement (not CTR program)
Survey more frequently?
More passive collection options (equivalent data already accepted)
Data products
More visual; dashboards
Add peer-to-peer comparisons
Add heat maps
Make available TDM suggestions and strategies at the worksite level
Data should be available
- Quickly
- Raw (already is, but not in an easy to understand format)
Other themes
Role of survey?
- Engagement VS data collection VS performance improvement
Who should survey?
- Everyone at a site?
- All CTR affected sites?
- TMPs? Voluntary sites?
Make more training and FAQs available
Should surveying focus on engaged, willing worksites (e.g., do we use a strength-based approach to focus effort and increase return on investment)?
DRAFT Recommendations
The following is a set of DRAFT recommendations for changes to the survey format, questions, and data products. These recommendations are based on the input WSDOT has received to date. Any and all comments and suggestions are most welcome as we move forward towards a final set of changes.
Question changes
- We recommend removing the first two questions from the survey. The intention would be to ask that at a minimum, the affected employees be surveyed (as is currently the case, there is no verification process for this). If an employer wishes to survey all their employees, they would be welcome to do so. Removing these questions would remove confusion, and few if any interviewees reported using the information from these questions.
We recommend making the home zip code question mandatory. Alternatively, we are considering adding a feature that would allow survey respondents to use a map to “drop a pin” on a major intersection close to their house to provide a more precise home location. The benefit of the pin would be more precise commute distances and an educated guess at the corridors people use to get to work. Even with only the zip code, though, we would be able to calculate the distance from home to work from this information (with an error no larger than what comes from the current mileage estimates) and would then be able to remove question 3, asking respondents for their estimate for distance. We believe that this method would provide consistent calculations for distance.
We recommend customizing question four about modes to each respondent. If they are in the central Puget Sound, they would be offered TNCs and shuttles as mode options; if they are in Spokane, they would not be offered ferries as an option. This question would also clarify compressed work weeks and teleworking. Further, people who choose public transportation would be asked how they got from the public transportation station to work (e.g., last mile mode), creating a better understanding of multimodal use and giving employers information to determine if CTR strategies could be applied to the last mile portion of the trips. Furthermore, other modes would be simplified and we would remove overnight business trips.
We recommend removing question five about the number of people in carpools and vanpools and instead using constants. Our system currently defaults to five in vanpools and two in carpools. Alternatively, we could have a a pop-up question about occupancy, only for the people who choose carpool or vanpool in the mode choice question. Right now, the system only collects a single number for occupancy, causing issues if a person used both carpools and vanpools during the week.
We recommend removing question seven, and asking people to report on their most common week, rather than asking them if the week was typical. We know this will mean we will no longer capture anomalies in how people commute (e.g., I normally bus, but I took my car to run an errand after work), but the data is not accurate enough to require that level of detail.
We recommend moving question eight about work schedule to the beginning of the survey so as to make clearer the difference between a day off and a flexible schedule. Again, the instructions would be clear about describing a common week, so vacations and holidays should not be included.
We recommend removing the parking payment question and only collecting this information in the program report. We did not hear any interviewee comment that they used this information.
We recommend removing question ten on telework as a separate question and instead allow it to be a selectable mode in question four.
We recommend catering questions 11 and 12 based on the responses to question 4 about mode. For instance, if someone never drives, they would not be asked about why they drive. This would make the survey shorter and more relevant to each participant. We also want to make the options actionable in terms of TDM strategies that could address those concerns.
Format changes
We recommend that the survey be shorter, with skip logic, as articulated in the proposed changes to questions.
We recommend that there would not be modules or supplemental questions. The survey should be concise and consistent.
We recommend that the survey be anonymous and not require an email on part of the employee to participate.
We will provide more guidance for alternative data collection and ensure visibility of that guidance.
We will encourage everyone to survey as frequently as they choose (at least once every two years as is the current process).
We recommend a more environmentally friendly survey and elimination of the ScanTron bubble sheet survey. The new survey will be mobile-device friendly and available in multiple languages. A PDF file of the survey would be provided and could be printed, but the information would have to be entered by the sites administering the surveys in this format.
We recommend that some sites be exempt from surveying, but not the CTR program. Specifically, sites that have exemplary CTR programs and their own data collections efforts would not be required to survey, and could potentially provide, if they chose, a simple report on mode split.
We recommend removing targets from the survey instruments and reporting dashboards. At this points, jurisdictions have multiple options for setting their targets. Jurisdictions would be responsible for maintaining their own targets.
We recommend removing response rate requirements. Sites with excellent response rates would have statistically valid samples. Sites without robust responses would have to rely on the information that they gather, but without the burden of attempting a second survey to improve responses rates.
Product changes
We recommend eliminating the PDF site reports and replacing them with interactive dashboards. The aggregate report would also be in a dashboard format. Data could easily be downloaded as a CSV file for anyone who wishes to still interact with the data directly. Advanced users would have additional methods for interacting with the data.
For each site, we recommend developing 1) information on peer comparison (where applicable) by proximity and industry type, 2) TDM suggestions based on the sites locations and amenities available to them, and 3) origin-destination heat maps based on their employees home locations.
Raw data and results would be available automatically when survey periods close.
We will provide more trainings and more robust FAQ documents.
Next steps
This document describes WSDOT’s initial recommendations and proposals based on the initial round of stakeholder interviews. Our next steps are to get feedback on these proposals. To that end, we ask that you provide us with written feedback by July 17, 2020. Please send your comments or questions to CTRSurvey@WSDOT.WA.GOV
Once the comment period concludes, we will summarize the comments and edit the recommendations accordingly. We will also develop a set of “mock-ups” to demonstrate the potential appearance of the new tools. We will ask for a final round of review of the recommendations later in the summer.