Volunteer families needed for new travel survey in South County

By Mary Dennehy

A SURVEY collecting information on the travel patterns of the Irish public will engage with more than 1,800 households across South Dublin communities such as Tallaght, Clondalkin, Lucan and Ballyfermot.

Launched by the National Transport Authority (NTA), the Household Travel Survey 2017 will collect information on the travel patterns of the Irish public from more than 6,000 households nationwide – 1,815 of which will be located in South Dublin, representing people of all ages and lifestyles.

Households being surveyed will receive an initial letter from Amarach Research, which will be followed up by a visit from an Amarach representative who will issue the household with a travel diary.

Barry Colleary, Head of Transport Modelling and NTS Spokesperson, said: “We are asking that the South Dublin families selected for the survey engage with Amárach and the NTA to help us complete the travel diaries.

“We need this data so that we can better understand people’s current modes of transport and the infrastructure required in South Dublin for the future.

“The Household Travel Survey is the equivalent of the census in terms collecting vital travel information.”

The survey will seek to answers questions such as, have people changed their travel behaviour as we move from recession to recovery? Are more South Dublin children using scooters to travel to school? And, is the car still the dominant mode of transport?

The last Household Travel Survey, which was carried out in 2012, discovered that, for example, seven in ten people used a car most often for day-to-day journeys and that one in seven people said that walking was the mode of transport they used most.
There were also 12 million trips made across the country as a whole on an average week day.

According to Mr Colleary: “We’ll publish the results of this survey later this year and we want to thank all the South Dublin householders who will participate in this important work.

“Generating data on transport use is essential to the NTA’s role in strategic planning of transport and in the development of an integrated, accessible public transport network.”

It has been confirmed to The Echo that all local garda stations will be notified of when Amarach representatives are visiting homes in the area, with all representatives carrying ID and calling after a letter has been received by households.

Anybody with any concerns can contact the NTA on 8798300 or their local Garda station.