It does not seem too difficult to collect all the names used for all transit modes in the country before any suggestion is extended to ACS office. After all, these transit modes are provided by transit agencies and they know, as providers, what their modes are. The result would be a list of transit service names and the modes. This product provides an objective source of data for making a recommendation. If printing costs are not prohibitive, a more advanced way of using the above list would be in the contextual design of the ACS form. More meaningful terms can be used for each region in which the ACS is being conducted. So, the form offers most possible modes with locally familiar names based on the location of the respondent. Arash Mirzaei, P.E. | Senior Rprogram Manager Model Development and Data Management | NCTCOG Tel: (817) 695-9261 | Fax: (817) 640-3028 | Email: amirzaei(a)nctcog.org -----Original Message----- From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Ken.Cervenka(a)dot.gov Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 3:24 PM To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net Subject: [CTPP] American Commuter Survey (ACS): The Means of Transportation Question Hello, As you may know, the Census Bureau's "means of transportation" question on the current American Community Survey questionnaire (as well as the previous Census 2000 "long form") is as follows: How did this person usually get to work LAST WEEK? If this person usually used more than one method of transportation during the trip, mark (X) the box of the one used for most of the distance. __ Car, truck, or van __ Bus or trolley bus __ Streetcar or trolley car __ Subway or elevated __ Railroad __ Ferryboat __ Taxicab __ Motorcycle __ Bicycle __ Walked __ Worked at home __ Other method Here at U.S. DOT, we (meaning FTA, FHWA, and BTS) are discussing whether updated descriptions might make more sense for the three public transportation categories associated with use of rail: __ Streetcar or trolley car __ Subway or elevated __ Railroad However, any changes to these three categories (or even collapsing these to a single "rail transit" category) will, if ultimately approved for testing, require a formal and carefully-controlled "ACS content change" test to be conducted by the Census Bureau in 2013 and 2014. So this is a very big deal. If three rail-related categories are maintained, here is one approach under consideration for future testing: __ Streetcar or trolley rail __ Subway, metro, or light rail __ Commuter railroad or Amtrak Or maybe a variation that makes it clear(er) each of these choices refer to a rail transit mode: __ Rail - streetcar or trolley __ Rail - subway, metro, or light rail __ Rail - commuter railroad or Amtrak If you have any comments about what seems to make the most sense from the viewpoint of a future ACS respondent and/or transportation data analyst, please send me an email and I will summarize all comments received in a future email to this listserv (along with your name as the author, unless you wish to be anonymous). But feel free to reply directly to this listserv with your observations! Ken Cervenka FTA Office of Planning and Environment 202/493-0512 _______________________________________________ ctpp-news mailing list ctpp-news(a)ryoko.chrispy.net http://ryoko.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news