HSL’s Traffic Survey launches on Monday 20 October. The survey is conducted to collect information about how much and by which modes of transport Helsinki region residents travel. Later HSL will study how the opening of new rail links will affect travel.
The survey sample is about 40,000 people from all 14 Helsinki region municipalities. Vantaa and South Espoo are given greater weight in the survey because the Ring Rail Line and West Metro will bring major changes to theses area in the coming years. HSL studies the impact of these major rail projects on residents' travel habits by rerunning the survey once both of the new rail lines have been operating for some time.
“The aim of the surveys is to get a thorough and reliable picture of residents' travel habits and of the issues affecting people's travel. The survey results will also provide comparison data for the results of traffic forecast models. Impact assessments based on the models are used in transport system planning,” tells HSL Transport Analyst Pekka Räty.
HSL conducted an extensive traffic survey in 2012. The results of that survey showed a remarkable shift: for the first time in 50 years, the use of public transport has increased faster than motoring in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The share of public transport of all motorized journeys increases by one percentage point from 2008.
This year, the traffic survey is mainly conducted online with the exception of respondents under 15 years of age and over 65s who are interviewed by phone. The respondents are asked to note all the journeys they make during a weekday in a travel diary, including journeys made by foot. Those selected to the survey receive questions in advance by mail. To make the responding easier, a mobile application has been created for Android phones, which people can use to help to record their journeys.
HSL is also conducting a travel survey. The travel survey studies journeys in the Ring Rail Line catchment area made at least partly by public transport as well as all journeys starting or ending at the Airport. The survey has already been conducted on trains but it continues on buses until the end of November. At the Airport, the survey is conducted at the turn of October and November.