Drivers, cyclists and pedestrians are being asked to share their stories of moving around Ottawa and its environs, part of a major telephone survey aimed at revamping the region’s transportation network.
TRANS, a planning committee encompassing municipal, provincial and federal stakeholders in the National Capital Region, will gather information from 25,000 randomly selected households during a phone survey that ends Nov. 25.
The survey is designed to shed light on commuting habits and other daily travel patterns.
“The growth in the region over the last six years requires planners to seek a detailed picture of today’s trip patterns and travel choices – which means communicating directly with a broad sampling of residents,” said the joint committee’s website.
“The information collected will be used to plan roads, transit infrastructure and services, and cycling/pedestrian facilities.”
The survey will cost about $1 million, with the City of Ottawa’s contribution coming to $252,000. The data will assist the city in updating the transportation master plan in 2013.
“This is the only database available for transportation data. This will be used for all the planning activities and new development in the area,” says senior project manager Ahmad Subhami.
“For the Lansdowne development they used data from the 2005 survey for their transportation impact study.”
Carleton University professor Benjamin Gianni, who teaches a class on infrastructure planning and policy at the Azreili School of Architecture, says the survey will provide valuable information for city planners.
“I’m really pleased to hear that they’re undertaking this,” he says.
“It makes perfect sense to me that not only Ottawa but the NCC and Gatineau would also be participating.”
The project is being undertaken by the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau, OC Transpo, the Gatineau transit authority STO, the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and the National Capital Commission.
The committee was established in 1979 to co-ordinate transportation throughout the National Capital Region.
Gianni says various provincial and municipal goals dictate the shape of infrastructure and survey data will allow planners to accomplish those goals.
He says that while helpful, the survey wouldn’t provide an all-encompassing solution to the region’s transportation challenges, a sentiment echoed by an Ottawa cycling group.
“The origin-destination survey is very important for the city in terms of finding out . . . where people are going and what modes they’re taking,” says Alayne McGregor, spokesperson for Citizens for Safe Cycling.
“The information has flaws but that doesn’t mean it’s not important to gather it.”
McGregor says the survey underestimates the number of cyclists in the city since it takes place during fall, when fewer people opt for a bicycle as a mode of transportation..
But she adds that it’s great for comparisons with data available from 2005’s survey.
The 2005 data showed that four per cent of trips within the central part of the city were by bicycle, 54 per cent by walking, 11 per cent by public transit and 28 per cent by vehicle.