Further development of indicators and methodologies

0.1  There are two main areas of work to take forward in the technical development of the indicator sets that have now been agreed. Although these two processes cannot be entirely separated, the first step is to draw up some more specific technical definitions for each indicator. The parallel but, in several cases, longer term process is to develop new or improved data collection methodologies in some key areas.

1. Indicator definitions

1.1  The Department intends to circulate a set of draft technical definitions for indicators in the core set by 22 March, with a view to having an agreed set of definitions by the end of April. Where indicators are still under development under different work streams, this guidance will provide outline definitions at this stage. This includes congestion monitoring and the composite bus performance indicator, and may also include further work on monitoring rail patronage locally.

1.2  The initial drafts will be circulated to those working group members wishing to be involved in the further development and also to key stakeholder groups, as identified in the main indicators paper, who will have interests and expertise relevant to particular indicators.

1.3  A longer timescale will be required for the larger and more diverse set of optional indicators. The intention is to circulate an initial draft by 23 April and a final draft by the end of May.

	Core indicators	Optional indicators
First draft from DfT	22 March	23 April
Comments from working group and other key groups	By 8 April (Easter)	14 May
Final draft from DfT	30 April	31 May

1.4  The definitions provided for each indicator will be specified in the following terms:

• Calculation required to derive final indicator value(s)
• Definitions of components to be used in calculation
• • specific inclusions in each case (e.g. road types, specific time periods, journey types, specific sub-populations/sites/areas, etc)
  • specific exclusions in each case
• Appropriate data sources
• • reference to further guidance on data collection, including specification of appropriate sample sizes where appropriate
• Specification of baseline dates (could depend to some extent on availability of data collection methodology)
• Specification of appropriate reporting frequency

2.  Data collection methodologies

2.1  In addition to the work on defining indicators, the Department is committed to developing some cost-effective methodologies for local authorities to obtain good quality data in key areas. This development work will be taken forward in different forms for the different work areas. Where necessary, for example on the household survey work, the Department will consult interested members of the existing working group.

Household surveys

2.2  We will let a development project to work up a cost-efficient methodology for a local household travel survey. The intention is to produce a simple and flexible instrument, or set of instruments, that will still guarantee data of sufficient quality and depth to be fit for the purposes of monitoring modal share and basic satisfaction and perception measures. These main outputs would be augmented by a selection of key questions on background factors, such as car ownership and usual methods of travel. The contractors will be required to take into account authorities' means and balance likely costs against what is needed.

2.3  We hope to carry out this work over the next six months and, if appropriate, may also run a subsequent project to produce some simple analysis tools. An outline specification for the development project is attached, in the Annex to this note.

	Start date	Finish date
Development of specification	Mar 2004	Apr 2004
Tender process	Apr 2004	May 2004
Review of existing methodologies	May 2004	Jun 2004
Development of survey instruments and sampling strategies	Jun 2004	Jul 2004
Pre-pilot testing and early development of guidance	Jul 2004	Aug 2004
Main pilot exercise	Sep 2004	Sep 2004
Completion of guidance	Oct 2004	Oct 2004
Identification of further work to be taken forward	Oct 2004	Oct 2004

Cordon surveys

2.4  The Department will draw up guidance to provide Local Authorities with a clear methodology for implementing traffic counts in key urban areas. This may provide some authorities with a cost-effective alternative or supplementary means to estimate mode shares. The work plan in this area is as follows:

	Start date	Finish date
Consider existing methodologies and determine best practice	Mar 2004	Apr 2004
Development of guides to defining cordons	May 2004	Jun 2004
Development of standardised routines for identification of key routes	May 2004	Jun 2004
Develop fieldwork instructions, including timing issues, counting procedures, etc	May 2004	Jun 2004

Bus patronage survey methodologies

2.5  The intention is to improve quality of national data on bus patronage and to provide for the collection of higher quality and more comparable local data. PTEG and ATCO will be consulted at the relevant phase in each of the work streams outlined below.

	Start date	Finish date
Pursue proposed adjustments to national methods	Ongoing	Dec 2004
Consideration of existing local methods below PTE level	Mar 2004	May 2004
Production of a set of recommendations to improve harmonisation of local data collection methods	May 2004	Jun 2004
Production of full guidance on appropriate data collection methods in different area types	Jun 2004	Jun 2004

Cycling monitoring

2.6  The Department has set up a working group to look at the provision of better cycling data. Work will be taken forward on two fronts - work to examine the feasibility of setting up a national cycle monitoring network and development of a toolkit for analysing cycle-related data.

2.7  The Department is establishing pilot studies with two local authorities (Gateshead and Surrey) as part of the work on testing how joint local/national cycle counter networks could be established. Sustrans will also be involved in this work and other work regarding both on-road and off-road cycle traffic.

2.8  At present the two main work streams are likely to develop as follows:

National cycle monitoring network

	Start date	Finish date
Examine feasibility of incorporating existing local authority cycling monitoring sites, where these exist, into a national network	Ongoing	Aug 2004
DfT to investigate funding capital costs of additional counter sites in authorities with insufficient local networks	Ongoing	Aug 2004
Initial review of options	Aug 2004	Sep 2004
Development of process for DfT to provide local authority datasets using data directly collected from all sites	Sep 2004	May 2005

Cycle-data analysis toolkit

	Start date	Finish date
Review available data	May 2004	Jun 2004
Develop appropriate techniques	Jun 2004	Dec 2004
Provide guidance/software/plug-ins?	Jan 2005	Mar 2005

Congestion monitoring data

2.9  The Department has signed a contract to purchase ITIS GPS data. All local authorities will have access to the processed data for Local Transport Planning work, subject to processing constraints (the 19 largest urban areas will be given priority) and establishing appropriate uses of the data.

2.10  Over the next year, the Department will be conducting a comprehensive work programme to assess the properties of ITIS data and the applications it can support (in various environments). With the assistance of the Congestion Monitoring Working Group, data users, and through letting research projects, the Department will develop methodologies for deriving the various indicators, issue guidance, and establish mechanisms for data provision and communication with Local Authorities.

2.11  Where possible, as much work will be completed, and guidance issued, by July 2004. However, some work is likely to go on beyond that point, especially for complex indicators such as journey time variability.

2.12  The main elements of the work programme are:

	Start date	Finish date
Develop understanding of ITIS data (properties and applications)	Ongoing	December 04
Establish routine processing of data for largest urban areas part of PSA target	Ongoing	July 04
Establish routine processing for other local authorities subject to appropriate uses	August 04	December 04
Develop methodologies to derive indicators for urban congestion monitoring	March 04	February 05
Establish mechanisms for communication with Las	March 04	June 04
Produce technical advice on delay indicator (both vehicle and person based measures)	May 04	July 04
Produce technical advice on other indicators	May 04	February 05

Parking data

2.13  By summer 2004, the Department will investigate the validity of a proposal for a national parking database and use of Valuation Office data. This work will form part of the development process to produce further guidance on the parking indicator.

Transport Statistics: Personal Travel Division
Department for Transport
March 2004