INTRODUCTION
Purpose
Data Collected![]()
The NPTS serves as the nation's inventory of daily personal travel. It is the only authoritative source of national data on the daily trips including, but not limited to:
- purpose of the trip (work, shopping, etc.);
- means of transportation used (car, bus, subway, walk, etc.);
- how long the trip took, i.e., travel time;
- time of day the trip took place;
- day of week the trip took place, and, if a private vehicle trip;
- number of people in the vehicle, i.e., vehicle occupancy;
- driver characteristics (age, sex, worker status, education level, etc.);
- vehicle attributes (make, model, model year, amount of miles driven in a year); and
- household characteristics (income, location, and number of people, drivers and vehicles).
These data are collected for all:
- trips,
- modes,
- purposes,
- trip lengths, and
- areas of the country, urban and rural.