This short presentation provides a summary of work being undertaken in delivering our annual TRICS data collection programme.

Transcription

1 This short presentation provides a summary of work being undertaken in delivering our annual TRICS data collection programme. 1

2 The TRICS Consortium are pleased to announce that the 2012 TRICS data collection programme is consisting of a total of 240 surveys, an increase on the 220 surveys in last year s programme. We remain fully committed to adding to the quantity and quality of our surveys, and achieving high quality coverage both in terms of regions and land use classifications. Following the trend of recent years, more than half of the surveys being undertaken are multi-modal in nature, and our schedule of site visits and subsequent production of survey specifications has seen us cover all 17 TRICS regions. Some surveys have already been undertaken, with the majority to take place in the autumn. 2

3 The TRICS data collection programme is currently split between 17 defined regions, which many of you will be familiar with. The quota of surveys allocated to each region is determined in the autumn of the previous year, following a consultation with users via our TRICS User Survey. This annual survey provides the Consortium with much valued feedback, as we ask the TRICS Community where they would like to see more data collection taking place, both in terms of regional and land use coverage. As you can see here, the TRICS regions cover all of the UK and Ireland. It should be noted that in 2012 there are both Spring and Autumn programmes taking place in the Greater London region. 3

4 In terms of the land use coverage of the 2012 programme, we have ensured that a significant percentage of the total number of land uses in the TRICS database are covered by this year s surveys. In total, 63 of the 110 categories on the database are being included in the programme. And each of the land uses selected for inclusion have also been allocated a priority rating, of which there are three. We rank the land uses as standard, high priority, or highest priority, and our site identification visits and subsequent selection of sites for each regional data collection package have proceeded on this basis. As with our regional allocations of survey sites, we take a lot of feedback from our annual User Survey, and we also undertake an analysis of the TRICS database in the summer to ensure that we are covering land uses where data may be in short supply or getting older. Our process for topping up the database annually is tried and tested. 4

5 Here are a few examples of land use categories that have been rated as high priority or highest priority. It s not a complete list, but you can get the idea of the kind of diversity of the TRICS data collection programme through these examples. 5

6 To prepare our land use and regional data collection targets we apply a number of tests to the TRICS database, and using feedback through the User Survey, we are able to put together an annual data collection proposal for the following year, which JMP produced last autumn for this year s programme. Once authorised by the TRICS Consortium work on identifying particular sites for consideration starts at around September time, allowing us to undertake the surveys in the following year s Spring window, with site visits continusing through until around June for surveys that are to take place in the subsequent Autumn window. 6

7 For many years now we have directly commissioned annual data collection programmes, working closely with our approved TRICS data collection contractors. We have a number of survey companies on our books who have experience in working with TRICS, and we like to keep the process competitive whilst at the same time ensuring consistent high quality in the data delivered. The whole process starts off with site visits, which take place in accordance with our multi-modal data collection methodology. Writing up the site visit notes into survey specifications, these can then be put into regional packages that are tendered out. The surveys are undertaken typically a couple of months following the tenders going out, and when data is supplied to JMP it is put through our comprehensive and scrutinous data input and validation process. 7

8 A quick word here about our site visits. All of the site visits are undertaken in line with our multi-modal methodology, which is also used to produce the subsequent detailed survey specifications which then go to our approved data collection contractors. Here is an example of a site in Cardiff that we visited at the beginning of the 2012 round of site visits. One of the fundamental aims of the site visit process is to ensure that all site access points are covered. In this example the site visit at the Holiday Inn Express was quite straightforward, with the site having a single vehicle access (top left) and two pedestrian accesses, but on other occasions some of the sites we visit can be quite complex and require much more careful assessment of a development. 8

9 There is no real need to go into any detail with regards to the TRICS tendering process and the actual undertaking of the surveys themselves, only to say that we have updated and amended our processes through time as we have received feedback from our data collection contractors, and our own experience in dealing with TRICS survey sites and their many differences and levels of complexity has meant that we have been able to fine-tune and adapt our data collection methodology, with a detailed document made publically available every year. The 2012 data collection methodology will shortly be made available. As well as a robust methodology, we also need a robust method of assessing TRICS survey data and ensuring it is of the highest quality before it is made available trough our quarterly database updates. The TRICS team at JMP input all survey data and put it through our comprehensive validation testing. As you can see here, this testing covers all areas of the data for any individual site, including its location, environment and surroundings, local public transport provision, facilities and operations, both on site and off site parking availability, the actual survey count data by all modes, and how trip rates look when compared to the overall basis. Only when all validation points raised by the JMP team have been fully validated can the data be released in one of our quarterly system updates. 9

10 So we can provide you with the current 2012 TRICS data collection programme in this slide. The 17 TRICS regions are listed, with the numbers representing the number of surveys that are to take place/have taken place in each region. Again, the final numbers for each region have been allocated based on your user feedback in last year s annual User Survey, and our own analysis of the needs of the database. We encourage you all to complete our annual surveys, as this gives you a direct say in the future direction of our data collection programmes. 10

11 Multi-Modal TRICS surveys have added a further dimension to our counts since 2000 when they were first introduced. This year sees a continuation of the current trend of the majority of surveys in our data collection programme being multi-modal in nature. We have always received very positive feedback from the TRICS Community in terms of continuing with this multi-modal approach, and the TRICS Consortium is committed to enhancing this element of the TRICS database year on year. 11

12 So to quickly recap, we are currently in the process of undertaking some 240 TRICS surveys in These will cover all of our TRICS regions, and a wide variety of development types. The TRICS Consortium remain committed to significant annual data collection programmes, with this year being an increase on the 2011 programme. All of our surveys are subject to our robust data collection methodology, developed through over 20 years of experience, and is put through rigorous data validation testing. As we release TRICS system updates every three months, expect to be seeing some of this new data soon. 12