Conduct a Household Travel Survey (HTS) to get a better understanding on current regional travel patterns and trends in the Capital Region of Louisiana.

[ Full Solicitation ]

Background

The Capital Region Planning Commission (CRPC) is a Council of Governments and is also the designated staff of the Baton Rouge area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), serving 5 parishes: East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston and Iberville. As the regional MPO, the Capital Region Planning Commission focuses much of its resources on transportation planning issues and activities, which includes highway and transit planning, the regional ridesharing program, transportation safety, and air quality issues.

CRPC intends to revamp the Capital Region Travel Demand Model prior to initiating the next Metropolitan Transportation Plan update in 2021. This project is envisioned to be completed in two phases. In order to support revamping the regional model, CRPC is in the process of collecting a variety of transportation data sets. These data form a foundation for the regional models’ update, improvement of the regional travel forecast and ultimately better planning decisions. The first will be to conduct a Household Travel Survey (HTS) to get a better handle on current regional travel patterns and characteristics. Survey Purpose and Goals

Household Travel Survey (HTS) is a necessary part of data collection for transportation planning, travel demand modeling and travel demand forecasting purposes. The purpose of this survey is to capture behavior, patterns and attitudes of the traveling public. This information is later used to estimate travel forecasting models, which are used to analyze and plan regional transportation systems. Recent advances in passive data collection and big data analysis allow substituting some of the data collected through household surveys with alternative data collection and analysis methods. Nevertheless, at the present time, there is no a reliable alternative to household travel surveys to provide the contextual information. HTS continues to be the only source of detailed information on travel behavior and patterns, sufficient for estimation of advanced travel demand models and state- of-the practice travel demand forecasting, system analysis and planning.

At a minimum, the information provided from the survey should support the calculation of: •Trip production rates by trip purpose

• Trip distribution by time of day
• Trip length frequency distribution
• Mode share of travel
• Travel Time
• Origins/Destination by geographical zone

Primary goals of this travel survey are to:

• Understand changing travel behaviors and new, emergent transportation modes (ex. shared mobility)
• Integrate travel behavior data with 2020 US Decennial Census data
• Maximize sample size and response rates to develop statistically significant estimates •Build the foundational elements for any future development of activity-based models.

Project Overview

This survey will cover all potions of CRPC region which are in CRPC regional travel demand forecast model. CRPC regional travel demand model is currently an aggregate, trip-based (“four-step”) travel demand model. The 2019/2020 household travel survey will be the basis to support the development and refinement of CRPC trip-based model, address regional growth and transportation planning issues, as well as support other planning and general research activities. A Study Oversight Team comprising representatives from CRPC will be assembled to oversee key work elements, review and comment on draft documents, and generally coordinate with the Consultant(s).

Scope of Services

The Consultant is encouraged to consider best practices for conducting household travels surveys, review data needs of CRPC’s travel demand models and, if needed, suggest changes to the Scope of Services outlined in this section. Although the main portion of this scope of work is a household travel survey, passive data collection (GPS based surveys) should be considered to complete within the available budget.

Scope of Work

TASK 1: PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN

All proposals should include a detailed project management plan showing the organization of the study team (including the sub-Consultants – if involved) and the various tasks to perform. It should also include a detailed schedule with milestones, start, and completion dates, key personnel who will supervise the work.

The Consultant will provide quality control/quality assurance (QA/QC) on the products before providing them to CRPC. Consultation and coordination of various tasks and activities will be maintained with the Study Oversight Team. The Consultant shall conduct a kickoff meeting at the CRPC office to discuss the schedule and key elements of the work approach, identify significant issues involved in household travel survey data collection, and discuss methods for reporting work plan progress to CRPC. CRPC will seek input from the Consultant on communication methodologies, outreach to different populations in the region, incentive structure, survey activities, survey schedules, and the content of press releases (if needed). The detailed work plan shall indicate any resources or actions required from CRPC, or other members of the Study Oversight Team.

The time for completion of the project is approximately twelve months after issuance of the notice to proceed (commencement date). During contract negotiation, the commencement date will be confirmed or changed upon mutual consent of CRPC and the Consultant. The surveys are to be conducted in either September, October or November 2019 or February, March, or April 2020. During the period of contract negotiation, all administrative and accounting items will be discussed including: the proposed survey schedule, budget and project monitoring, cost control mechanisms, project status reporting including procedures, problem identification and other project monitoring activities.

The Consultant shall be required to submit to CRPC monthly progress reports, technical memoranda, computer outputs and other forms of data required to support and document the monthly progress reports appropriately. Products to be provided include:

• Technical memoranda of work performed during the period;
• An accounting of costs to-date;
• A statement of project progress and schedule adherence;
• Notification of any tasks that appear to be in danger of not being completed on schedule.

Task1 Deliverables:

1. Project Management Plan to include (at a minimum):
   • Work plan including Schedule
   • Communications plan
   • Presentations (up to 3)
   • Public engagement
   • Client engagement (including process for review, feedback)

TASK 2: SURVEY DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

The Regional Household Travel Survey shall cover the metropolitan planning area and shall provide data required to update CRPC’s four-step travel demand forecast models. Metropolitan planning area includes the entirety of East Baton Rouge and Ascension Parishes and the urbanized portions of West Baton Rouge, Livingston and Iberville Parishes. The purpose of this task is to develop the specifications of the survey instrument and plan details of the survey methodology. It is anticipated that the project will be completed within a twelve-month period, with the survey occurring in September, October, and November 2019 or February, March, and April 2020.

The work to be performed by the Consultant includes a review of the needs of the travel demand models and their data requirements. The survey shall also be designed to collect all the necessary data for subsequent potential development of an activity-based model. The following tasks present some possible sampling strategies, the number of samples required, and the total survey sample size. They explain the need for developing good questionnaires and the importance of conducting a pre-test that properly covers all geographic areas of the region.

Note: Consultants are encouraged to expand, propose contemporary and/or innovative methods in completing all tasks.

Task 2.1 Survey Design

• Review the CRPC travel demand model to recommend and confirm model parameters that will be informed by the survey.
• Design base survey instrument that will track vehicle trip and activity data for all households recruited to participate in the survey, including all trips made, places visited, mode of travel and activities carried out at home and other places for a specified 24- hour period.
• Develop sample stratification plan (the sample stratification should consider at a minimum, household income, household size, and geography).
• Special consideration must be given to gather data from special traffic generators such as Louisiana State University, Downtown Baton Rouge, Medical District etc.
• Consider the use of passive data such as Location Based Services (LBS) data to minimize respondent burden.
• Consider use of mobile apps, websites and other technologies to improve response rates and reduce survey bias and/or errors.
• Develop a plan to survey “Hard to Survey” populations.

Task 2.1 Survey Design Deliverables:

1. Technical memorandum on the survey design

Task 2.2 Survey Sample Frame

• Develop sample frame which possibly disaggregates the metropolitan planning area into districts with similar land use characteristics or aggregating census tracts. Land use types shall include urban, rural, fringe urban, and suburban. The Consultant will recommend an approach for the optimum use of resources in sampling. Treatment of sub-areas should also be addressed, such as urban cores, with increased densities, mixed land uses, and higher transit accessibility.
• Consultant shall suggest methods for over sampling of minority and low-income households to achieve a reasonable representation/response rates.
• Develop a plan for sample pretest, yielding a proposed number of completed household interviews.
• Develop a plan for a follow-up survey of non-responding households and household members that can be used to measure the size and likely impacts of non-responsive bias in the main household survey.

Task 2.2 Sample Frame Deliverables:

1. Technical memorandum on the development of the sample frame methodology and pretest sample of households

Task 2.3 Data Collection Plan and Materials

• Survey data collection shall be designed so that interviews are distributed fairly evenly throughout the weekdays of a month.
• Develop a multi-method data collection strategy to be used to conduct the survey pretest and prepare all survey materials required to implement this strategy. Include a rationale for methods recommended, such as phone, internet, mail, etc. This strategy will ensure consistency and quality across all data collection methods.
• Develop all survey materials (at a minimum) in both English and Spanish and have the capability of conducting the household interviewing in these languages in response to the preference expressed by the individual households participating in the survey.
• Develop a plan to encourage participation from groups that may underreport: recent immigrants, low-income groups, minorities, and individuals who have concerns about privacy and government intrusion. • Determine procedures for geocoding the collected location data.

Task 2.3 Data Collection Plan and Materials Deliverables:

1. Technical memorandum describing the survey interviewing plan
2. Survey materials

Task 2.4 Big Passive Data

The promise of big data is that it allows for a granular representation of travel in a cost-effective manner. In this task, the Consultant should propose using passive data at small geographies (Census Tract or smaller) to supplement the household travel survey.

• Develop passive data implementation plan
• Use passive data such as LBS to develop trip rosters to understand travel behavior of CRPC residents, develop a database for calibration of the updated CRPC travel demand model, provide the ability to understand visitor travel, and provide the foundational elements for the future development of an activity based model.

Task 2.4 Big Passive Data Deliverables:

1. Technical memorandum on passive data collection and implementation
2. Technical memorandum summarizing passive data analysis and how it supplements the household travel survey.

TASK 3 SURVEY PILOT AND EVALUATION

The objective of this task is to evaluate and refine the survey instrument and data collection methodologies through a pilot survey. The Consultant will proceed with this task after approval of the survey procedures and materials by the Study Oversight Team. Proposals submitted in response to RFP shall clearly describe where, when, and how the household interviewing for the survey pretest is to be conducted. Also, the Consultant response to this task shall specifically describe the following:

• Interviewer selection and training procedures;
• How household requests to be contacted in specified ways and at specific times will be handled;
• How household call backs and re-contacts will be handled;
• The techniques that will be used to encourage reluctant households to participate;
• How the data collected will be checked, edited, and validated;
• How missing data items will be handled;
• How passive data such as LBS could be applied;
• How the non-respondent follow-up survey will be handled; and
• The survey management and quality control procedures that will be used.

Task 3 Survey Pilot and Evaluation Deliverables:

1. Survey Pilot plan
2. All edited, geocoded survey (ArcGIS) map and data files from the survey pretest
3. The file descriptions and other documentation for these survey data files
4. A report summarizing:
   • Major results of the pretest
   • Lessons learned
   • Any refinements and revisions to survey methods, materials, and procedures

TASK 4 REFINE SURVEY METHODS, MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES FOR THE MAIN SURVEY

The purpose of this task is to refine the survey based on the results of the pretest. Survey Refinement Tasks include:

• Review results of the pre-test with the Study Oversight Team and jointly determine revisions to the survey methods, materials, and procedures for the main survey.
• Make the agreed-upon changes to the survey methods, materials, and procedures. The final sampling plan is approved by the Study Oversight Team.

Task 4 Survey Refinement Deliverables:

1. Technical memorandum documenting the revisions to survey methods, materials, and procedures. This memorandum will include descriptions of the sampling plan, survey instrument, diary instructions, interview training procedures, and telephone script.
2. Revised survey methods, materials, and procedures.

TASK 5 CONDUCT REGIONAL HOUSEHOLD TRAVEL SURVEY

The purpose of this task is to conduct the full household survey. The final goal for completed surveys and target allocations by area type will be determined based on the results of previous tasks.

Task 5 Main Survey Deliverables:

1. Regular progress reports on the implementation of the survey.

TASK 6 SURVEY EXPANSION

Since the survey is a sample survey, it is necessary to expand the survey to represent the population in the region. The Consultant shall detail their survey expansion and implementation plans for the household travel survey.

Task 6 Survey Expansion Deliverables:

1. Technical Memorandum detailing survey expansion plan

TASK 7 DATA ANALYSIS, SUMMARY AND FINAL REPORT

The following tasks describe the work required of the Consultant to compile, validate, edit, and code the collected data for use with the travel demand models. Survey results are to be published and made available in formats acceptable to various levels of users, including the public. Confidentiality of the data collected shall be maintained.

The Consultant shall prepare a final report for CRPC, which shall include the following items:

• A Summary report of examining CRPC’s travel demand model.
• The survey methods, interviewing outcomes, response rates, and notable events or factors affecting the survey.
• Basic survey results, including summaries of key travel behavior variables and pertinent demographic factors for the entire region, and by area types defined in the regional travel demand model.
• Assessment of survey data regarding statistical reliability and applicability for model development.

Task 7 Data Analysis, Summary and Final Report Deliverables:

1. Final survey report.
2. All survey data files (raw and summary) with their associated documentation.
3. A user’s guide to survey data files, including guidance for use in further analysis and research. An executive briefing to the Study Oversight Team on key travel behavior and demographic statistics (per communications plan).