Challenge

Maryland residents’ travel patterns have changed over the past decade. The causes of those changes are quickly evolving due to the rise of navigation apps, on-demand ride-hailing services, telecommuting, and more. The Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC) and Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) need to understand how these technologies have changed residents’ travel behaviors. The Maryland Household Travel Survey (MHTS) is key to discovering this information.

Capturing travel behaviors from 7,500 households across Maryland in an age of declining response rates and increasing web-based surveys requires innovative survey tools. That’s why MDOT turned to Westat to conduct the MHTS.

Solution

Westat’s survey support system includes real-time geocoding, an interactive smartphone app, a multimodal reminder system, and machine learning-enhanced survey questions.

Westat provides information through

• Real-time reports
• On-demand data access
• Data across different demographics and geographies

Results

Information on how, when, where, and why people travel allows modelers to project current challenges and future transportation needs. The data will inform future major infrastructure investments.