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Household Travel Survey - Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I give you all this information?

The information on your daily travel is meant to be representative of people with similar socio-economic characteristics.  For instance, people who live in similar types of neighborhoods across the region, with similar household incomes and household compositions; are likely to have similar travel patterns.  We need to know what those patterns are in order to predict how much travel all these people will be making in the years to come.

What or who are COG and TPB?

COG (or MWCOG) is the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments

TPB is the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board

COG is a regional organization of Washington area local governments. COG is composed of 20 local governments surrounding our nation's capital, plus area members of the Maryland and Virginia legislatures, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives.

COG provides a focus for action and develops sound regional responses to such issues as the environment, affordable housing, economic development, health and family concerns, human services, population growth, public safety, and transportation.

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the region, and plays an important role as the regional forum for transportation planning. The TPB prepares plans and programs that the federal government must approve in order for federal-aid transportation funds to flow to the Washington region.

Members of the TPB include representatives of local governments; state transportation agencies; the Maryland and Virginia General Assemblies; the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority; and non-voting members from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and federal agencies. The TPB has an extensive public involvement process , and provides a 30-day public comment period before taking action on plans and programs.

The TPB's planning area covers the District of Columbia and surrounding jurisdictions. In Maryland these jurisdictions include Frederick County , Montgomery County , and Prince George 's County, plus the cities of Bowie , College Park , Gaithersburg , Greenbelt , Rockville , and Takoma Park . In Virginia, the planning area includes Alexandria, Arlington County, the City of Fairfax, Fairfax County, Falls Church, Loudoun County, Manassas, and Prince William County.

Why was I selected to participate in the survey?

We are randomly selecting households to participate.  It is important to collect information from many different people since not everybody has the same travel patterns. 

I do not live in a COG jurisdiction, why am I getting this survey?

Although COG is primarily interested in the COG jurisdictions, we realize that people cross jurisdictional boundaries all the time in their daily travel.  We are interested in learning about your travel since some of it may cross into COG jurisdictions.  Even if you do not travel into a COG jurisdiction it is helpful to measure the trips that do not come in as much as those which do enter the region.

Do you really want to know if all I did was stop at the ATM?

Yes!  This type of quick stop may seem inconsequential to you, but if many people are making little stops like this, then it affects the traffic patterns on the road network.

What if I do not plan on going anywhere on my travel day?

That is fine!  We want to know about non-travelers as much as we want to know about travelers.

What if I am not in the DC region on my assigned travel day?

If you are leaving, returning to, or out of the DC region on your travel day, then we would like to know where you were or where you are going and about the trips you made.  This helps us figure out how many area residents are absent from the region on any given day.

How will you use this information about me?

We need information about real people to know where they are going at what time of day in order to figure out how many cars are on the roads at any given time and how much demand there is for the various types of public transportation.  This allows us to project the demands on our transportation network in years to come.  Projecting future demand allows transportation planners to plan for projects that will be needed in the future.

Why do you want to know my children's trips?

Trips taken by and for children make up a significant amount of the miles driven each year, whether by private vehicles or by school buses.  We need to know how many trips children are making so we can take it into account in estimating how much people drive each day and where they are going.

Are there penalties if I do not participate?

No, but it would be beneficial if you did participate.  It is very important in a region that is congested as Washington , that we know where people are going on a daily basis so we can predict the future.  With your help we can do that.  Without your help, we could be erroneous in our predictions which could impact your travel in years to come.

Top 5 Reasons to Participate:

1. Improving mobility, air quality, and quality of life are important to our community

2. Everybody needs transportation access to perform daily activities.

3. Sound transportation planning requires reliable information.

4. Making the right transportation improvements is extremely important to the health of our local economy.

5. Your participation will provide a solid foundation for this region's transportation future.

Why do you want information about me that is not about my travel?

We ask personal questions about your household in order to gauge how many households look like you.  This is important because we are more interested in all of the people you represent, rather than just you as an individual. 

What if I lose my diary?

You can download and print a copy from this website or call 1-877-261-4621 so a replacement copy can be mailed to you.