Massachusetts Officials Want to Know About Your Travel Habits

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts wants to know more about you and your travel habits. You might soon get a letter seeking your cooperation.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation Planning and contractor RSG have launched the Massachusetts Travel Study, the first such study since 2012.

The department says, “This latest statewide household travel survey is designed to measure and better understand changing travel patterns across the Commonwealth.”

The Massachusetts Travel Survey Website says, “We want to hear about your daily transportation habits. How do you travel? How far do you go? How much does it cost?”

“To ensure a sample that is representative of the Massachusetts population, each randomly selected household is asked a series of detailed questions about their socioeconomic characteristics and access to transportation – before recording on a specific, designated travel day(s) – where, how and when they travel,” OTB said.

The Department of Transportation says, “This survey is completely confidential for participants, as all personal identifying information will be separated from responses collected before the results are provided to MassDOT.”

The 2012 pre-pandemic survey “summarizes data by geographic area and general socioeconomic categories.”

MassDOT “encourages all who receive an invitation to participate in the study, as this data will help MassDOT make capital investments, service delivery, and transportation planning decisions.”

MassDOT says, “Once complete, every participating household member will receive a gift card for use at select retailers.”

Invitations to participate in the survey will be issued throughout the fall. You may also participate via a smartphone app, online, or by phone by visiting the Massachusetts Travel Survey website.