Survey design for studying transit access behavior in Mumbai City, India

The decisions regarding data collection technique, instrument format, and sample design are crucial steps in any transportation planning. This paper presents the experiences of the writers with a pilot survey conducted for the identification of the best data collection technique and for the standardization of the survey instrument format to be used in studying the transit access behavior of commuters in the Mumbai (Bombay) region of India. Three data collection techniques and three variants of survey instrument format were considered for the collection of revealed information and stated information. The criteria used for the evaluation of these techniques were the nonresponse rate and missing data. It is noted that the face-to-face personal interview method is suitable for the collection of revealed information, and the delivered and mailed back method is suitable for the collection of stated information. Column format is found to be better for the collection of journey characteristics. Detailed format is better for recording responses under policy effects. The economic and efficiency analysis of the survey process is also reported. The problems faced by the survey administrators and enumerators are discussed.