Group Representation of Disadvantaged Travelers in Household Travel Surveys: An Assessment of 43 U.S. surveys

Abstract In this study, we argue that the conventional survey performance measure – the survey response rate – is an inadequate indicator of representativeness and we propose a new metric, the Group Representation (GR) Ratio. This measure is applied for assessing representation of various sub-groups in the survey to determine how well a survey represents disadvantaged traveler groups, relative to more affluent groups. To demonstrate the usefulness of the GR-ratio, we review a sample of 43 travel surveys from across the United States, including 42 regional and state-level surveys, and the 2017 National Household Travel Survey. We review their data collection strategies, as well as assess levels of group representativeness for four disadvantaged traveler categories: low-income, zero-vehicle, unemployed, and racially minoritized groups. Our results suggest that many datasets severely underrepresent transport disadvantaged groups, with 85% of surveys over-representing white travelers. Only 11 out of 43 surveys represent disadvantaged groups reasonably well. The results from our analysis suggest while the majority of current household travel surveys in use across the US may underperform with respect to representing disadvantaged travelers, some survey collection strategies reflect important practices for improving survey representation.