The basic foundation of any public transportation planning effort is the collection of quality data to support the analytical and decision-making processes. TOA offers significant experience and capabilities in collecting data from both primary and secondary sources that support decisions regarding public transportation facilities and services. TOA uses state-of-the-art technologies to collect data for on-board surveys, ridechecks, and bus stop surveys. In addition, TOA staff have substantial knowledge of various secondary data sources, including the U.S. Census, Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD), American Community Survey (ACS), National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), American Housing Survey (AHS), and National Transit Database (NTD), among others, that can be used to support any analyses required by transit agency staff. In the case of survey development and analysis, for example, TOA has conducted a variety of surveys involving all aspects of this primary data collection tool, including survey design, sampling plan development, administration and oversight, and data reduction and analysis.

On the analysis side, one tool that is critical to the effective evaluation of public transportation routing and service areas is spatial analysis. TOA makes extensive use of geographic information systems (GIS) to augment its planning and engineering services. Innovative spatial analysis techniques are used to support service area analysis, market assessment, ridership projections, routing, and scheduling, among others. TOA staff also have supported transit agencies in the development of their own internal GIS service capabilities, providing on-site training and instruction.

Various sample TOA projects requiring extensive data collection and analysis include:

• Volusia County Transit (VOTRAN) On-Board Survey (2011)
• Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) On-Board Survey & Ride Check (2007, 2011)
• Pinellas County Transit Funding Focus Groups (w/Fallon Research, 2011)
• Lee County Transit (LeeTran) On-Board Survey & Ridecheck (2010)
• Collier Area Transit (CAT) On-Board Survey (2010)
• Pinellas County Sales Tax Referendum Focus Groups & Poll (w/Fallon Research, 2010)
• Polk County Sales Tax Referendum Focus Groups & Poll (w/Fallon Research, 2010)
• Lee County Sales Tax Referendum Poll (w/Fallon Research, 2010)
• Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) On-Board Survey (2007, 2010)
• Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) Mystery Rider Survey Project (2009-ongoing)
• Hillsborough Transit Authority (HART) On-Board Survey (2009)
• Gainesville Regional Transit System (RTS) On-Board Survey (2009)
• Pasco County Public Transportation (PCPT) On-Board Survey (1999, 2002, 2005, 2008)
• Hernando County (THE BUS) On-Board Survey (2008)
• PSTA Transit Market Research Study & Telephone Survey (2007)
• Southwestern Pennsylvania Corporation Public Transit Surveys (w/NuStats, 2007)

Additional Information

TOA Florida Transit Experience (PDF)

TOA National Transit Experience (PDF)

Related Projects

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