Capturing and Representing Multimodal Trips in Travel Surveys

Multimodal trips, or trips that use more than one means of transportation, have historically been underrepresented in travel surveying efforts. This lack of consideration has implications for widely accepted statistics for nonmotorized travel behavior (walking, bicycling, etc.) and affects researchers and professionals in travel modeling, urban planning, public health, and urban design. However, interest in the “last mile” connections to transit, aggregate health impacts of short walking trips, and emphasis on local connectivity require more detailed information on these typically short but important stages of travel. This study reviews approaches to multimodal travel behavior in travel surveys, analyzes their implications, and makes recommendations to improve data collection for the purpose of improved representation of multimodal travel. Particular attention is given to transit access and egress trip segments, nonmotorized travel, use of technology in travel surveys, reporting data, and dissemination of the travel survey beyond the travel forecasting community.