ORIGIN – DESTINATION

SURVEYS

Presented By:
Arathy Lal
M.Tech TE
192TS006
Overview:
• Introduction
• Types of O-D surveys
• Methods of O-D surveys
• Presentation of O-D data
• Uses of O-D surveys
• References

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Introduction:
• Abbreviated as O-D surveys
• One of the important studies in traffic and transportation
planning
• Most important study for planning of road system
• Provides details such as –
– Origin zone
– Destination zone
– Travel time
– Trip length
– Selection of routes
– Frequency of trips etc.

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Types of O-D Surveys:
• Classified into 2:
– That covering travel details of vehicles
– That covering travel details of passenger trips

• O-D studies on vehicular traffic:

• Determine number of vehicles originating from different
zones and their destination to various zones
• Supplementary data includes –
– No: of passengers in each trip
– Purpose of each trip
– Intermediate stops made (if any) etc

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• O-D surveys on passengers :
• The various details collected include :
– Locations of origin and destination
– Types of transport vehicles used
– Trip length
– Purpose of trip
– Number of trips
– Average distance covered in a day
– Choice of route etc

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Methods of Conducting O-D Surveys
• Manual Methods
– Road side interview method
– License plate method
– Return post card method
– Tag on car method
– Home interview method etc

• Automatic Methods
– Automatic Vehicle Identification System (AVIS)
– GPS method

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Road side Interview Method

• Vehicles stopped at selected interview stations

• Answers to prescribed questionnaire collected on the spot
and entered in prescribed forms
• Adopted for population < 5000
• Information collected includes:
– Place and time of origin and destination
– Route
– Locations of intermediate stops (if any)
– Purpose of trip
– Type of vehicle
– No: of passengers in each vehicle etc

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• Advantages:
– Data can be collected in short duration
– Field organization is simple
– Teams can be trained easily
• Limitations:
– Stopping vehicles for data collection causes delay
– To avoid congestion during survey, there should be
sufficient space across roadway at location of survey
– Traffic personnel may be required to control traffic

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 STANDARD FORMAT
Origin-Destination Survey
Questions
[ Source :K.R.Manjunath; R.M.Lohith; “Origin-Destination Studies”-A Case Study Of Junction
Improvements In Bangalore City”; International Journal of Engineering Research &
Technology (IJERT);Vol. 2 Issue 7, July – 2013;IJERT;ISSN: 2278-0181]
• Please take a moment to answer a few questions about your trip.
Your responses will help determine the need for improvements in
this area.
Where did your trip begin?
City/Town _____________________________
State ______
Zip _______
What type of place is your trip start point?
❒ Primary Residence ❒ Workplace ❒ Store
❒ School (I am a student) ❒ Recreation Area
❒Other _________________________________

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Where did your trip end?
City/Town _____________________________
State ______
Zip __________
What type of place is your trip end point?
❒ Primary Residence ❒ Workplace ❒ Store
❒ School (I am a student) ❒ Recreation Area
❒ Other _________________________________
What was the purpose of your trip?
❒ Work Commute ❒ Business Related
❒ Shopping ❒ School (attend class)
❒Recreation ❒Other ___________________

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How many people were in the vehicle, including
the driver?
❒ 1 ❒ 2 ❒ 3 ❒ 4 ❒ 5 or
more
What type of vehicle were you in?
❒ Passenger vehicle (car, motorcycle,
SUV, pick-up truck, minivan)
❒ Commercial vehicle
❒Other
______________________________
Do you regularly use this route ?
❒ Yes
❒ No

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Please add any comments on transportation you
may have.
Comments
_________________________________
________________
_________________________________
_______________________________

Thank you very much for your cooperation!

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License Plate Method:
• Entire study area is cordoned out
• Team of personnel employed at all entry and exit points of the
study area
• The employed personnel - enumerators.
• provided with synchronized timers.
• note the time and license plate numbers of vehicles entering
and leaving the cordoned area.
• Separate data sheets are used for traffic in each direction of
movement
• Tracking vehicle numbers and time of travel are done in office

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• Advantages:
– Field work is easy and quick
– Enumerators can be trained easily
• Limitations:
– Can be adopted only for small study area
– Involves lot of office computations
– Sizeable number of teams required to make simultaneous
observations
– Not possible to collect details such as frequency of trips,
purpose etc.

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Return Post Card Method:

• Post cards with business address distributed to drivers at

selected points or mailed to the address of vehicle owners.
• Distributing stations may be selected where all vehicles have
to stop – signals or toll booths.
• Questions to be answered by the road user will be printed on
the card along with purpose of study and request for
cooperation.

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• Advantages:
– Can be adopted where traffic is very high
– Does not cause traffic congestion
– Personnel need not be trained

• Limitations:
– Only a part of road users may return the post cards
promptly after filling the details properly and correctly
– Conclusions drawn may not represent the actual
population.

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Tag on Car Method:
• A card is stuck on the vehicle as it enters the cordoned area.
• Location and time of entry are noted
• As the vehicles leaves the study area, it is stopped and time
and location of exit are also noted.
• Advantage :
– Useful where traffic is high and moves continuously.
• Disadvantage:
– Gives information regarding points of entry and exit and
time to traverse study area only

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Home Interview Method:
• One of the most reliable methods of O-D survey.
• Mainly focuses on travel pattern and characteristics of
household that influence trip making
• Preferred when comprehensive traffic and transportation
requirements are to be planned for the city
• It is desirable to classify the households in study area and
then randomly select samples from each.
• Residences are visited by trained personnel who collect
details from each member of the household

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• Sample size for home-interview method:

Population Minimum Sample Required Sample

Size Size
< 50,000 1/10 1/5

50,000-1,50,000 1/20 1/8

1,50,000-3,00,000 1/35 1/10

3,00,000-5,00,000 1/50 1/15

5,00,000-10,00,000 1/70 1/20

>10,00,000 1/100 1/25

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• Advantages:
• Data useful for –
– Planning new routes or facilities for existing traffic
– Planning of mass transit system
• Problem of stopping vehicles and consequent difficulties are
eliminated all together
• Present travel needs are clearly known
• Analysis of data is simple
• Additional information such as socio-economic factors that
affect traffic and transportation growth can be incorporated.

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Automatic Vehicle Identification System (AVIS) at toll stations

[Source: Bryan P. Guy; Jon D. Fricker; “Guidelines For Data Collection Techniques And Methods
For Roadside Station Origin-destination Studies “-Joint Transportation Research Program,
Project No. C-36-17SSS,File No. 8-4-71,SPR-2935
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• Widely adopted in US roads
• Similar to tag on car method
• Bar coded cards attached to dashboard or window
• These have unique identifier that is attached to the vehicle
owner’s account.
• When vehicle passes the toll stations, a scanner obtains the
identification of vehicle via radio frequency.
• Matching of details between stations is done to identify travel
path.
• Toll systems are very efficient in identifying vehicles
• Recognition rate close to 100%

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GPS Method:

• GPS equipped vehicles record latitude and longitude at

regular intervals during the course of its journey.
• Real time or post-trip processing of data possible
• Data analyzed to get information such as:
– Origin
– Destination
– Average trip length
– Trip rate
– Travel time etc

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Presentation of O-D Data:

•O-D data can be presented

in following ways:
- O-D matrices
- Desire lines
- Bar charts
- Flow lines

Cordoned Area

[Source: Guidelines For Data Collection

Techniques And Methods For Roadside
Station Origin-destination Studies]

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O-D Matrices:

[Source: Guidelines For Data Collection Techniques And Methods For Roadside
Station Origin-destination Studies]

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Desire lines:
• Graphical representation
of O-D data
• Straight lines connecting origin
points with destination points
• Width of desire line is proportional
to the no: of trips in both
directions

[Source :Origin-Destination Surveys and Volume

Studies – Robert Emmnuel Barkely]

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 Bar Charts:

• Traffic volume at desired points

expressed as bar diagram.

[Source :Origin-Destination Surveys and Volume

Studies – Robert Emmnuel Barkely]

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 Flow lines:
•Traffic originating from a particular point
and moving to various destinations are
analyzed

[Source :Origin-Destination Surveys and Volume

Studies – Robert Emmnuel Barkely]

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Uses of O-D Surveys:
• Judge adequacy of exciting facilities and plan new roads
• Establish design standards along routes
• Locate expressways or major routes along desire lines
• To establish bypass
• To locate new bridges as per traffic demand
• To plan transportation system and mass transit facilities
• To locate intermediate stops of public transport etc

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References:

• Highway Engineering – S.K. Khanna, C.E.G. Justo, A. Veeraragavan

• Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning – Dr. L.R.Kadiyali
• Origin-Destination Surveys and Volume Studies – Robert Emmnuel Barkely
• Transport planning and traffic engineering – C.A.O’Flaherty
• K.R.Manjunath; R.M.Lohith; “Origin-Destination Studies”-A Case Study Of
Junction Improvements In Bangalore City”; International Journal of
Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT);Vol. 2 Issue 7, July –
2013;IJERT;ISSN: 2278-0181
• Bryan P. Guy; Jon D. Fricker; “Guidelines For Data Collection Techniques
And Methods For Roadside Station Origin-destination Studies “-Joint
Transportation Research Program, Project No. C-36-17SSS,File No. 8-4-
71,SPR-2935

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Thank You!

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