[CTPP] No Car but Drive Alone to Work

[Polzin, Steve]

This phenomenon shows up in NHTS as well and appears to be a very real result of the fact that some share of folks used borrowed cars for travel.  It may be a young adult who doesn't own a car but has one available from dad, folks renting, folks borrowing etc. In consumer expenditure surveys non-car owning households also have non trival auto related expenses for  travel.  While I can't confirm that there are errors in the data, it is not uncommon for non-car households to travel more PMT in SOV than on transit.  

Steven E. Polzin, PhD
Director, Mobility Policy
Center for Urban Transportation Research
polzin at cutr.usf.edu
(813) 974-9849 (w)
813 416-7517 (c)


-----Original Message-----
From: ctpp-news-bounces at chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces at chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Ed Christopher
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 4:22 PM
To: ctpp-news at chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] No Car but Drive Alone to Work

Hmmmm.  We had this problem with the 2000 data and did discover that 
there was a problem with how "mode to work" was being imputed when that 
question was not completed by the respondent.  At that time we learned 
that the problem had something to do with the order in which things got 
imputed.  However, how and the order in which things got imputed got 
changed to alleviate the problem we saw in 2000.  Hopefully those in 
Bureau who are on this list might take a look and address what could be 
going on.

Simple reasons how someone who does not have a vehicle available could 
be driving to work is that they have a company car on loan, maybe a zip 
car or even using a neighbors car but I would find it hard to believe 
this fully explains what you are seeing.

Your attachment didn't come through.

Cook, Cliff wrote:
> I'm hoping someone can help me address this question from a colleague.  He put together a table from the 2006-2008 ACS showing mode of journey to work by vehicles owned and came up with surprisingly large numbers who do not won a car yet drive alone to work. No doubt, there are a few people who fit this category but my guess is that this largely is the result of either people misunderstanding the question or some sort of coding problem. Here is an excerpt from his email ( the Cambridge here is Cambridge, Massachusetts):
> 
> I'm looking at ACS data and specifically at cities and percent workers have no car available.  From that I'm then looking to see how those workers get to work.
> 
> The attached worksheet shows my work.  What is strange is that it shows for Cambridge that 6.6% of people without a car available drove alone to work.  The percent is similar to Boston. And NYC has 3.4% of workers with No vehicles available driving alone to work.
> 
> So, the question is, how can someone without a vehicle drive to work alone?  Do you have any ideas on this?  It could be someone doesn't own a vehicle, but drives a friend's car to work. Or has no car of their own, but uses a company car to get to work.  But seems like a high number for this.
> 
> Can anyone shed any light on this?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Cliff Cook
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Clifford Cook
>  Planning Information Manager
>   Cambridge Community Development Dept.
>    344 Broadway
>     Cambridge, MA. 02139
>      617/349-4656  FAX 617/349-4669  TTY 617/349-4621
>       email => ccook at cambridgema.gov
>        web site => <http://www.cambridgema.gov/~CDD/>
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)

FHWA RC-TST-PLN
4749 Lincoln Mall Drive, Suite 600
Matteson, IL  60443

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