NPTS: THE U.S. NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD TRAVEL SURVEY

The 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS) is a household travel survey on personal travel in the United States. It has been conducted every 5 to 7 years, beginning in 1969. Although, as survey researchers, we want to improve survey methods over time, we also need to build in methods to measure the impact of these methodological changes so that we can compare travel over time. Three topics are addressed in this paper: 1) an update on the 1995 NPTS; 2) the changes in survey methodology between 1990 and 1995; and 3) recommendations to others based on our recent experience.