In the fall of 2005, the City of Edmonton together with Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation undertook an extensive survey of households in the Edmonton Region to determine the nature of current travel patterns.
Between September 26, 2005 and December 15, 2005, approximately 9300 households in the Capital Region participated in a survey for a 24-hour weekday or weekend period.
The survey asked each member of a household to track:
- Trip origins and destinations
- Trip purpose
- Travel mode choice (transit, walking, biking, single occupant in motor vehicle, passenger in motor vehicle)
- Time of day
- Type of activity at destination
- Trip frequency
Some 6600 of the surveyed households in the city provided information on their weekday travel, as compared to approximately 6000 in 1994. Additionally 2000 households outside of Edmonton’s boundaries provided their data for weekday travel.
Some interesting data gathered from the survey included:
- Across the Capital Regions, on a trips per person basis, trip rates increased from 3.49 trips per person per weekday in 1994 to 3.63 in 2005
- Urban residents generated more trips per weekday than rural residents
- Females made more trips per day than males, 3.76 vs. 3.51 trips
- The largest group of transit users were 16 to 24 year olds in St. Albert and Sherwood Park, who used transit for 13% of trips
- Residents from the region used transit for 1.8% of trips, which rose to 2.9% for residents of St. Albert and Sherwood Park compared with 9% for City of Edmonton residents
- Travel between Sherwood Park and Edmonton increased 51% from 1994 to 2005
- Travel between St. Albert and Edmonton increased 34% from 1994 to 2005
Information from the 2005 Household Travel Survey helped:
- Develop Edmonton’s Transportation Master Plan – The Way We Move
- Plan for LRT, including the Valley and Metro Line LRT expansions
- Prioritize and design new roads - both in the city and the region (Anthony Henday Drive, Blatchford Redevelopment)
- Study the UPass before it was implemented
- Helped planners understand what will roadways like Terwillegar Drive, the QE2, and 75 Street look like in the future
Note: Hard copies of the Full Report are available by request and a charge will apply.