LTA in midst of survey to find out public’s weekday travel patterns
To shape the future of transport in Singapore, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is in the midst of a months-long survey to find out how people are getting around the country on weekdays.
The government agency wants to gather 30,000 responses by Feb 28 through its Household Travel Survey, which amasses household and travel information of Singapore’s residents.
LTA said on its website that it wants to use the online and face-to-face survey to gather insights into the existing and emerging travel behaviours of Singaporeans, and identify their transport needs.
The survey began on Sept 17, 2024, but it was paused in mid-November during the year-end holidays before resuming on Jan 14, 2025. About 22,000 surveys have been completed so far.
“As the survey aims to capture weekday travel patterns, excluding weekends, public holidays and school holidays, it was temporarily paused in mid-November during the year-end holiday period,” LTA said.
The online survey is accessible on mobile devices and computers. Around 70 per cent of the responses are expected to be gathered online, while the rest will be from face-to-face interviews, LTA told The Straits Times on Jan 20.
“For those less familiar with digital tools, LTA’s authorised vendor will conduct face-to-face interviews through door-to-door or street surveys,” said LTA.
Respondents to the online survey will get a $10 supermarket e-voucher, limited to one per address.
Information requested by the online survey included housing type; household size; income level; and the places that a respondent visited on a particular weekday, the mode of transport used and the travel time incurred for those journeys.
The survey also wanted to find out what kind of vehicles the respondents own, rent or share in their households.
“Participation in the Household Travel Survey will help shape the future of transportation in Singapore as an inclusive and efficient land transport system,” LTA said on its website.
Previously, LTA carried out in-person surveys every four or five years.
Its Household Interview Travel Survey, conducted between 2016 and 2017 with 45,000 participants, found that overall travel demand rose by 5 per cent to 15.4 million journeys compared with 2012, when the previous survey was done. The number of trips made with private vehicles also fell for the first time since 1997.
Journeys made with buses and trains climbed to a record 6.1 million in 2016, from 5.5 million in 2012, while daily trips made with private vehicles hit 4.2 million in 2016, 13 per cent fewer than in 2012.
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