Survey for Metro and Sounder Riders

• Who is conducting this survey?
• What is the purpose of this survey?
• When will the survey be conducted?
• What is Sound Transit going to do with this data?
• How are people chosen for the survey?
• Who should complete the survey?
• How long will the survey take?
• How do I return the survey form after I complete the survey?
• What kinds of questions are you asking?
• Why is my participation important?
• What if I don’t know an answer to a question?
• Why do you need to know the addresses of where I travel, my household income, and other personal information?
• How do I know you’ll keep my information confidential?
• I ride the bus / Sounder and didn’t get a survey – how do I participate?
  

Sound Transit is funding the survey and will be the primary user of the data collected. It is working in cooperation with King County Metro Transit.   Sound Transit hired Opinion Research Corporation Northwest (ORC-NW) to conduct the survey.

Sound Transit is about to open the Link light rail system from Downtown Seattle to SeaTac International Airport. As part of the light rail project Sound Transit is conducting a survey to capture the travel habits of Metro bus users along the affected corridor. The survey will gather information about the origins and destinations of Metro riders and how they make their trips. This will create a snapshot of riders’ habits on the selected routes to provide a basis for comparison after Link has opened.

Sound Transit also needs to know about the transfer habits of Sounder train passengers because it is anticipated that Link will affect those habits.  Therefore, Sound Transit will also be conducting a survey designed to capture the rate at which Sounder passengers transfer between the trains and buses at King Street Station.

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The survey will be conducted over a four week period from mid October to mid November. Three weeks will be spent on-board King County Metro buses. A fourth week will be spent at stops along the SODO Busway and on-board the Sounder trains.

The results will be compared to a second survey that will be performed in fall 2011 after Link has been in operation for two years. The comparison will give Sound Transit an accurate picture of how bus ridership and Sounder transfer activity has changed as a result of Link. The results of the comparison will be published in a report called the Before & After Study.

Specific bus routes were chosen by Sound Transit during the planning of the survey. These routes represent those that are most likely to be affected by Link. To achieve a representative sample of Metro riders on these routes, ORC-NW has drawn a random sample from all one-way trips for each of the bus routes. All passengers on each of the selected trips will be asked to complete the survey.

All Sounder passengers on-board selected trains will be asked about their transfer activity.

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Everyone who is on one of the selected bus or train trips and everyone approached on the SODO Busway should take the survey. A major focus of this study is to gather information from everyone who rides the buses regardless of age, race, ethnicity, sex, disability, or otherwise. ORC-NW has gone through extensive effort to make the survey readily available in six (6) languages. There is also an 800 number available for riders who need additional help (other languages, illiterate, visually impaired etc.). If you need any assistance in completing the survey or have any questions about the survey, please call ORC-NW toll-free at (866)-913-4090 and we will do all we can to assist you.

The bus survey takes approximately 3-5 minutes to complete.

To make it easier to participate, we are offering three options for completing the bus survey:

1. Complete the survey on-board the bus or at the stop along the SODO Busway (Preferred). You may then return the survey to one of ORC-NW’s survey personnel.

2. Complete the survey and mail it back to ORC-NW. The back of the survey has mailing instructions. Simply fold the survey in thirds (survey will be scored for folding) and drop it in any mailbox. Postage is pre-paid.

3. Call ORC-NW and complete the survey verbally. There is a toll free number listed on the survey. If you have problems reading the survey, call that number for additional languages and support.

We need all surveys for this data collection period completed and returned no later than December 1st, 2008.

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The survey includes questions about your bus travel, where you began and ended your trip, and the other transportation modes you took during your trip.

The Sounder train survey is a single yes / no question and takes approximately 5 seconds to complete. It is a verbally administered survey. Interviewers will be walking through Sounder trains asking passengers if they did transfer or will transfer at King Street Station.

Sound Transit will use this data to create a snapshot of the travel habits of passengers on the selected routes. The more riders that participate, the more accurate the snapshot will be. Each participating customer will represent many more transit riders with similar characteristics. Your participation is important because you will be representing other customers like you.

The data will be used to help determine Link’s affect on travel habits, and will also help Sound Transit evaluate its project planning methods.

Most of the questions are about the trip you are currently on. They ask where you came from, where you are going, and how you are getting there. Most people know the answers to these questions. If you are not sure of the exact answer, just answer the question as best you can.

Sound Transit is trying to accurately capture where people are traveling to / from. The easiest and most efficient way to capture that is by using an address. Your information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be sold or used in any way other than to identify travel patterns.

ORC-NW understands that some may feel uncomfortable sharing their home address. If you are uncomfortable providing your full address, we ask that you provide the nearest cross streets to where you began/ended this trip.

We ask for personal information such as your household income so we can understand the demographic characteristics of the passengers who take transit along the Link corridor, and if Link will have an impact on these characteristics after it opens for service.

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We are required by law and business standards to keep your information confidential.

The objective of the survey is to obtain a representative sample of transit riders. Not all customers will be surveyed.  Customers who are not on a selected bus or train trip cannot participate in the survey.

Thank you for your interest and participation in the Sound Transit survey!