Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Measurement Methods and Pilot Test for Collecting Odometer Readings

The policy interventions aimed towards sustainable transportation directly or indirectly aim to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Self-reported VMTs in travel surveys are traditionally used (1) to quantify the impact of policy on travel behavior and (2) to understand the factors affecting VMT. However, VMTs collected in travel surveys are subject to large measurement errors for several reasons, including participants’ memory decay, carelessness, and rounding/approximate measurement of distances. Alternative methods, like Global Positioning System (GPS)-enhanced and mobile app-based surveys, can provide more accurate VMT data. However, they are intrusive, expensive, hard to scale, and suffer from lower response rates. Therefore, the samples collected from these technology-enhanced methods may prove problematic in terms of generalization and representativeness of the population. This project will focus on VMT measurement through two main tasks: (1) a state-of-the-art literature review of the methods to collect information about VMT, to date, in transportation studies, with an assessment of their pros and cons, (2) the development of a framework to collect pictures of odometer readings from participants via instant messaging services APIs and the testing of this approach through a pilot deployment and evaluating under what circumstances (if any) this method could provide benefits that overcome its limitations, compared to other existing approaches. Through these tasks, the study will provide much-needed guidelines and information for planners, policymakers, and researchers and allow testing a methodology that is expected to be relatively cost-effective, less intrusive than other methods, and has the potential to provide accurate VMT.

• Record URL:
  https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/project/vmt-measurement-methods-and-pilot-test-collecting-odometer-readings

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $67499
• Contract Numbers:

  DOT 69A3552348319

  DOT 69A3552344814

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California Davis

  Institute of Transportation Studies
  ,    
• Managing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  1 Shields Ave
  Davis, California  United States  95616
• Project Managers:

  Iacobucci, Lauren

• Performing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  1 Shields Ave
  Davis, California  United States  95616
• Principal Investigators:

  Gulhare, Siddhartha

  Circella, Giovanni

• Start Date: 20240101
• Expected Completion Date: 20241231
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Application programming interfaces; Data collection; Odometers; Photographs; Vehicle miles of travel
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01902414
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Sustainable Transportation
• Contract Numbers: DOT 69A3552348319, DOT 69A3552344814
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Dec 15 2023 2:40PM