Analysis of TRICS® User Questionnaire 2007
Jul-07 (86 responses in total)

Question 1
TRICS® is continually developing. What improvements/new features would you like to see included in the system?

 

Answer

Frequency

1

More surveys required

7

2

More multi-modal surveys

5

3

Export results data into Excel more easily
IC comment: Looked into this last year, but we could introduce Excel icon to make things clearer to users.

4

4

Save trip rate work in progress
IC comment: Looked into this last year, expensive and potential to cause confusion.

4

5

Ability to sort site lists by data field column
IC comment: Good idea, could use "ascending" and "descending" icon options

4

6

Option to calculate and display Employment trip rates by hourly period
IC comment: Recurring question raised by members, could put this into options section.

3

7

Distinguish between solo drivers and "car sharers" in counts
IC comment: Popular request from users, occupants per vehicle are recorded in raw data collection forms.

3

8

Large events surveys (e.g. football)
IC comment: Difficult and costly to survey, but we could use a sample and factor up results.

3

9

Clear comparison of before and after Travel Plan transport generation

3

10

Improve search facility to make it more flexible
IC comment: Could add new search fields, but increasing danger of low data sets.

3

11

Move "Location" to Main Parameters screen
IC comment: Excellent idea, Location is now of greater importance since release of Good Practice Guide.

3

12

Introduce half-hourly trip rates for all land use categories
IC comment: Cannot do this for existing data. Potential issues with compatibilty between old and new sites.

3

13

Multi-modal results (by all modes) on a single screen for a given time period
IC comment: Technically feasible, and would speed up process for users. Possibly cost prohibitive.

3

14

Extend rank order lists to compare by range of factors (location, etc).
IC comment: Many changes made to rank order list recently, this could be confusing.

3

15

Split Hotels category to make new "Budget Hotels" etc. sub-categories

2

16

More Saturday surveys required

2

17

Combine different sub-categories in trip rate calculations
IC comment: Would be a bad move in terms of good practice, should be avoided.

2

18

Change residential land uses to "shared equity", "social landlord", etc.
IC comment: Residential definitions often brought up by users, a new review may be required.

2

19

Split traffic counts by "staff", "visitor", "deliveries", etc.
IC comment: Would mean a whole new approach to survey methodology, and would cost more per survey.

2

20

Produce new version of TRICS® Datacard
IC comment: Data would not be robust enough if Good Practice guidance is used.

2

21

Prevent surveys being lost when you go back into Main Parameters
IC comment: We could have a "pop up" message asking users to confirm and warning of resetting of data.

2

22

More photographs of each site required
IC comment: May be webspace issues over time, but numerous photos are obtained during MM site visits.

2

23

Increase options for saving reports (other than .TRI files)
IC comment: Saving reports to Word files might be worth looking into.

2

24

Show time period by survey in rank order lists (calculated by "busiest hour")
IC comment: Good idea, as long as there are no screen space issues.

2

25

Automatically filter out sites appearing more than once (re-surveyed sites)
IC comment: Would prefer existing warning message to appear at earlier stage (in Main Parameters?)

2

26

Make "Total People" the default selection for multi-modal calculations
IC comment: Good idea, and would not cost much.

1

27

Develop surveys to show journey purpose
IC comment: Would mean a fundamental change in survey methodology, and would cost more per survey.

1

28

More data for "affordable housing"

1

29

New land use category of "live/work units"

1

30

New land use category of "small craft"
IC comment: Not quite sure what this is defined as.

1

31

Provide information within Development Details on shift patterns

1

32

Typical car reduction rates that could be expected by a Travel Plan
IC comment: Surely we need much more Travel Plan data before we could implement this.

1

33

Link multi-modal data to Census data to allow easy estimate comparisons
IC comment: Not sure how this could be done, seems complicated.

1

34

More surveys at city centre apartments

1

35

Allow user defined selection defaults by region/area
IC comment: Goes against principles of Good Practice Guide, encouraging exclusion by region/area.

1

36

New land use category of "call centre"

1

37

Include r2 trendline in rank order scatterplots
IC comment: Would require someone with statistical experience to give their opinion. Clarify existing fit line?

1

38

Allow trip rate calculations for "Mixed" category
IC comment: We should not do this, the very nature of mixed sites vary by a great deal.

1

39

Land use categories should correspond to national planning categories
IC comment: Our proposed use classes document and link should deal with this.

1

40

New land use category of "trade only builders merchants"
IC comment: Is there a demand for this?

1

41

Extend site lists to allow selection of data fields viewed
IC comment: Existing columns could be hidden, but would this contradict Good Practice?

1

42

Show 85th, 70th, 50th etc. percentile trip rates (user defined figure)
IC comment: probably easy to do this, but would there be a real demand?

1

43

Provide details of annual data collection programmes to users
IC comment: Would be easier once web system is up and running.

1

44

Clarification on whether mezzanine floors were included (by survey)
IC comment: This is not possible for existing data, probably best to leave this. Definitions now clearer.

1

45

Provide a link to local.live.com for site location images
IC comment: Worth having a look at this, and seeing if link can be easily made (like Multimap).

1

46

Provide a list of member organisations to members

1

47

Re-order Miscellaneous sites in a more user-friendly way for searching
IC comment: See number 5, sorting rows by description may help here.

1

48

Improve outputs so that all information is captured
IC comment: All outputs are selected by default, users have to deselect what they do not want to output.

1

49

Undertake more new surveys rather than re-surveys
IC comment: Hardly any re-surveys are undertaken at the moment anyway.

1

50

Change parameter range in printouts to the exact range selected by user
IC comment: I can see how this may be mis-read, a change would be easy to implement.

1

51

New land use category of "NHS walk-in centre"

1

52

In "weekdays to include", show number available by different date ranges
IC comment: This seems impractical, we already have a note displaying effect of 8-year cut off.

1

53

More Travel Plan information at sites

1

54

New land use categories for smaller retail developments

1

55

"Previous" and "Next" buttons to move between development screens
IC comment: Good idea, can be frustrating for users to cycle back a screen each time at multi-sites.

1

56

Allow 85th percentile calculations for smaller data sets
IC comment: Would advise against this, this goes against Good Practice.

1

57

Improve Help facility
IC comment: Help facility is always under review and is updated regularly.

1

58

IC comment: This could be easily added to the planned use classes document as a separate page.

1

59

Make system more "windows" based rather than jumping screens
IC comment: This would be a step backwards, this is the system we had years ago.

1

60

Highlight "atypical" sites that could potentially skew results
IC comment: This would depend on a set of agreed definitions, could be difficult and misleading.

1

61

"Lock" selections so user can move around database without resetting
IC comment: May be possible (and useful), but may be a complicated change. Worth looking into.

1

62

Graphical output showing "bell curve" distribution of data
IC comment: Not sure what this means, someone with statistical experience would need to comment.

1

63

Introduce selections by level of public transport
IC comment: This would be a good move, using the new PT services table, but only a few sites could be used.

1

64

Explain Optional Parameter options (e.g. hover information)
IC comment: We could add more hover notes, but is there a great demand for this?

1

65

Provide confirmation screen of selections before calculating
IC comment: A simple summary screen could be introduced, and toggled on/off in options section. May be useful.

1

66

Option to permanently turn off "pop up" advice notes
IC comment: Easily done, but would people forget that they are available if permanently disabled?

1

67

Provide direct link to definitions section of Help files
IC comment: Good idea, we could add mode, land use & calculation parameter definition link buttons.

1

68

Warning in results screen when small number of surveys used
IC comment: Good idea, could fit this in with Good Practice. Warning already used for rank order lists.

1

69

Results screen to show range and standard deviation/variance of the data
IC comment: Would need someone with statistical experience to review. Danger of making things too complicated.

1

70

Speed up switching mode by displaying mode icons at the top of the trip rate results screen
IC comment: Quite a straightforward and helpful amendment.

1

71

Indication of pass by/diverted trips at a site
IC comment: Would not be possible without major comprehensive research - too much "datacard"-like.

1

72

Introduce trip rates for light goods vehicles

1

73

More surveys at smaller employment/residential sites

1

74

New land use category of "car parks"

1

75

New land use category of "rapid response police stations"

1

76

Introduce modal split pie charts by hour (or selected time period)
IC comment: This could possibly be done by highlighting a time period in the trip rate results screen.

1

77

Remove trip rate calculation option from the Main Parameters section
IC comment: This would be in line with Good Practice, and would encourage more robust filtering.

1

 

 

TOTAL 105

Question 2
What problems do you experience when using the system and its data?

 

Answer

Frequency

1

If you go back a step program resets the selection settings
IC comment: Could be solved by introduction of Q1 60.

3

2

Extracting data into Excel causes a problem
IC comment: This has recently been improved.

2

3

Not enough data for smaller developments

2

4

Some land uses have zero sites in them
IC comment: This is being addressed in the data collection programme. These are new categories.

2

5

Not enough data to provide a robust assessment
IC comment: Good Practice Guide discusses this. Increase size of data collection programme?

2

6

Difficult to clarify GFA/RFA by site, as definitions over time not clear
IC comment: Definitions are now much clearer, we cannot go back and investigate old data.

1

7

Practical to use TRICS® for people movements, as regional density differs?
IC comment: Good Practice Guide discusses this, with Location & population etc. more important.

1

8

Clarification of land use categories for residential category confusing
IC comment: We may need to review this again.

1

9

Increasingly finding that TRICS® data is not preferred way to assess trips

1

10

OGV's included in Total Vehicle rates can lead to double-counting
IC comment: We can make this clear with a simple note on the screen.

1

11

Some information missing in development Details for sites

1

12

Enormous variation in trip rates for some land uses without apparent reason
IC comment: This is probably when users are looking at small land uses. More data would help with this.

1

13

Need to repeat selection process for each subsequent analysis
IC comment: This is probably inavoidable. The nature of the system requires a repeat of the process for clarity.

1

14

No facility to extract data to Tempro
IC comment: Unaware of the level of use of this program. Would think that Excel is much more common.

1

15

Large differences in trip rates when removing one or two surveys
IC comment: This is inavoidable when dealing with small data sets.

1

16

Help system does not work when running on a network
IC comment: Web-based system will end this problem automatically.

1

17

Problems understanding definitions
IC comment: Definitions have recently been clarified.

1

18

Lack of free-standing rural developments

1

19

Too many surveys excluded through cut-off date
IC comment: Is there the need for a bigger data collection programme?

1

20

Lack of data in town centre/edge of town centre locations
IC comment: 2005 Location definitions put many sites within "suburban area".

1

21

No distinction of offices (i.e. council buildings) that attract public trips
IC comment: Good point, offices land use sub-category could be split to take this into account.

1

22

Lack of weekend surveys at employment sites
IC comment: Is there actually a demand for this? Difficult to find such sites.

1

23

Inaccuracies in parameters (e.g. GFA) which lead to incorrect results
IC comment: Reports of inaccuracies are rare and are dealt with instantly, no need to change our approach.

1

24

Foodstores including non-food elements are not highlighted
IC comment: Good idea, we could split RFA into "food" and "non-food elements" for new sites.

1

25

Foodstores with or without PFS is hidden away in Optional Parameters
IC comment: This could be brought into the Main Parameters section if considered important enough.

1

26

Printing to file is difficult to find in the system
IC comment: A clear button could be introduced to allow quick access to report saving.

1

27

Insufficient data for reliable 85th percentile calculations
IC comment: Good Practice Guide deals with this.

1

28

Option to copy to Excel is not made clear in the system
IC comment: An Excel icon could make the option easier to spot for users.

1

29

Confusion between half-hour data (Employment) and hourly data
IC comment: We need to decide if time periods need to be amended.

1

30

Location categories are confusing
IC comment: Definitions are made clear via a link button, we cannot make things any clearer.

1

31

Categorisation of land use categories not clear on main menu screen
IC comment: A button linked to land use definitions would make things clearer for users.

1

32

Not enough multi-modal data

1

33

Lack of Saturday surveys

1

34

Lack of a good range of GFA's at sites
IC comment: The more data that's added, the better the range.

1

35

Pop-up messages are annoying
IC comment: Users can disable per session. A permanent "turn-off" option might not be a good idea.

1

36

Difficult to save output files in PDF format
IC comment: This has recently been addressed.

1

37

Too many filtering variables
IC comment: We cannot start removing users' choice of filtering options without good reason.

1

38

No facility for users to set their own default values
IC comment: Such values may cause more problems than they solve, as each case is different.

1

39

Not enough data

1

40

Not enough data for modern sustainable developments
IC comment: often difficult to find when not many have been built. We could look into this for next year.

1

41

Survey start and end times differ by land use category
IC comment: Characteristics of land uses differ, this is unavoidable.

1

42

Lack of a facility to allow calculations by half hour or by hour
IC Comment: Our approach to half-hourly and hourly time periods should be reviewed.

1

43

When copying trip rates to Excel you have to copy the whole table
IC comment: We cannot do much about this, it is up to the users to cut & paste where necessary.

1

44

Rank order lists cannot be saved at the same time as trip rate results screen
IC comment: We could look into the possibility of printing both together. Would be a useful option.

1

45

Not easy to obtain 85th percentile figures
IC comment: It cannot get any more straightforward than it is now.

1

46

Printing and saving is complex - not always clear what is being output
IC comment: We could make the output selection boxes clearer for users.

1

47

Difficult to distinguish HGV from MGV vehicles in counts
IC comment: OGV definitions are clear, and any changes would not be compatible with existing data.

1

48

No information for out of town apartments in villages

1

49

having to use larger developments to calculate trips for smaller sites
IC comment: Good Practice Guide covers this, more surveys at smaller sites would help.

1

50

Annoying problem with "Previous" and "Next" buttons not always being aligned.
IC comment: This is a problem, and can be fixed quite easily.

1

 

 

TOTAL 55

Question 3
In recent years a programme of research projects has been undertaken. What new research would you like to see funded
by the TRICS® Consortium in the future?

 

Answer

Frequency

1

How will Travel Plans impact on people's behaviour/trips made?
IC comment: Imagine this may require a lot of data not yet available within TRICS®.

12

2

Research into pass-by/diverted trips

12

3

Research into "linked/cross-visitation" for different land uses
IC comment: This is something that the existing multi-use report does not cover.

10

4

Trip rates at mixed use developments
IC comment: Not sure what will differ from existing multi-use research. Possibly same as Q3 3.

5

5

Impact of restrictions on parking
IC comment: Parking provision clear for sites throughout database. This would assist.

3

6

Research into trip characteristics at converted uses
IC comment: Small number of "farm diversification" data available, plus Countryside Agency report.

3

7

Research into take-away sites
IC comment: Lack of data for this land use in TRICS®.

2

8

Does affordable housing generate less traffic than other types?
IC comment: Significant amount of data in TRICS® that could help with this issue.

2

9

Cross-reference TRICS® data to Census data

2

10

Research into trip levels at car parks
IC comment: Car parks as opposed to car parks at developments. No survey data for this in TRICS®.

2

11

Accession software and accessibility

2

12

Impacts of out of town stores on existing town centre patterns
IC comment: Only data at actual developments is available in TRICS®.

2

13

Before and after studies at sites where TRICS® data was used in assessment

2

14

Affect on traffic of moving stadia out of town (and other uses into centre)
IC comment: Lack of stadia data available in TRICS®.

1

15

Car and service trips at small (individual) retail units
IC comment: Limited data within some existing land use categories may be helpful.

1

16

Travel patterns for different age groups

1

17

Is the usage of 85th percentile trip rates realistic?

1

18

School journeys:How many will be "school run", and how many work-related?
IC comment: TRICS® cannot currently distinguish this.

1

19

Diversion rates of traffic from existing developments to new competitors
IC comment: Distance to nearest similar site is present for data in TRICS®, this may be useful.

1

20

Link between reduced parking provision, Travel Plans, PT and car usage
IC comment: Much more Travel Plan data would be needed if TRICS® is to be used.

1

21

Research into pedestrian footfalls at sites (travelled on foot/parked nearby)
IC comment: Current multi-modal surveys deal with this. A split between the two could be obtained.

1

22

Research into "reducing need to travel" & "encouraging sustainable travel"

1

23

Duration of stay at schools
IC comment: TRICS® does not currently calculate duration of stay.

1

24

Containment effects of schools, shops etc. within a large residential area
IC comment: TRICS® cannot provide this information, only survey data for individual developments.

1

25

Trip purposes by mode from residential areas
IC comment: TRICS® does not identify purpose in its trips.

1

26

Food superstore extensions
IC comment: Often brought up by users, limited data on TRICS®, Q2 24 could help with this.

1

27

Trip generating characteristics of covered & outdoor sales areas (e.g. garden centres)
IC comment: GFA for garden centres includes both internal and external areas, with no split given.

1

28

Residential sites with little or no parking
IC comment: Significant data for residential development exists, but may be lack of sites with low parking.

1

29

Research into visitor and delivery trips
IC comment: "Visitors" as opposed to Employees etc. are not specified in TRICS®, but all OGV's are recorded.

1

30

Research into multi-modal trip rate variation by land use and region
IC comment: Now may be a good time for this research, to confirm our Good Practice guidance.

1

 

 

TOTAL 64



Question 4
In which regions of the UK and Ireland would you like to see more data and/or what regions do you feel are currently inadequately represented by data?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question 5
In which regions of the UK and Ireland do you feel there is currently too much data?

Answer

Frequency

Answer

Frequency

None specified

29

None specified
IC comment: A significant number of people said that "there can never be too much data".

67

Scotland

11

South East

9

South East

9

Ireland/Northern Ireland

9

Greater London

5

South West

9

Ireland/Northern Ireland

3

West Midlands

8

Scotland

2

Wales

7

South West

2

East Midlands

6

North West

1

North West

6

North

0

North

5

East Midlands

0

Greater London

4

West Midlands

0

Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire

3

East Anglia

0

East Anglia

2

Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire

0


Question 6
Please indicate which TRICS® land use categories that:
a) You tend to use most often; and
b) Those categories which require more data.

Rank

Main Land Use

Sub Land Use

Total

Most Used

More
Needed

Change

1

03 Residential

A: Houses Privately Owned

95

76

19

no change

2

03 Residential

C: Flats Privately Owned

91

62

29

up 1

3

02 Employment

A: Office

89

71

18

down 1

4

02 Employment

C: Industrial Unit

83

58

25

no change

5

02 Employment

B: Business Park

74

58

16

no change

6

01 Retail

A: Food Superstore

69

57

12

up 1

7

06 Hotel, Food & Dr.

A: Hotel

68

48

20

up 2

8

03 Residential

K: Mixed Private Housing

67

51

16

up 3

9

02 Employment

D: Industrial Estate

61

47

14

down 3

10

01 Retail

I: Shopping Centre (local shops)

58

35

23

down 2

11

01 Retail

K: Retail Park (excluding food)

53

39

14

up 1

12

02 Employment

F: Warehousing (commercial)

52

40

12

down 2

13

03 Residential

B: Houses for Rent

51

35

16

up 4

14

03 Residential

D: Flats for Rent

50

34

16

down 1

15

06 Hotel, Food & Dr.

C: Pub/Restaurant

48

34

14

up 3

16

03 Residential

M: Mixed Private/Non-Private Housing

47

34

13

down 1

17

06 Hotel, Food & Dr.

B: Restaurant

47

34

13

down 1

18

01 Retail

J: Retail Park (including food)

46

32

14

down 4

19

01 Retail

C: Discount Food Store

37

27

10

up 3

20

01 Retail

O: Convenience Store

35

11

24

up 5

21

01 Retail

G: Other Individual Non-Food Superstore

34

21

13

up 6

22

03 Residential

L: Mixed Non-Private Housing

33

25

8

down 3

23

01 Retail

D: DIY Superstore (with garden centre)

32

29

3

down 3

24

05 Health

G: GP Surgery

32

18

14

up 6

25

01 Retail

M: Mixed Shopping Mall

31

15

16

up 8

26

02 Employment

E: Warehousing (self storage)

31

22

9

down 3

27

03 Residential

N: Retirement Flats

31

15

16

up 2

28

13 Petrol Filling Stns

A: Petrol Filling Station

31

22

9

up 10

29

13 Petrol Filling Stns

B: Petrol Filling Station with Retail

31

20

11

up 13

30

06 Hotel, Food & Dr.

D: Fast Food (drive-through)

30

19

11

up 4

31

07 Leisure

C: Sports Centre

29

18

11

up 4

32

06 Hotel, Food & Dr.

H: Pub/Restaurant + Hotel

28

19

9

down 8

33

01 Retail

E: DIY Superstore (without garden centre)

26

22

4

down 7

34

04 Education

A: Primary School

26

13

13

down 13

35

04 Education

C: College/University

26

12

14

up 1

36

04 Education

B: Secondary School

25

13

12

down 8

37

07 Leisure

A: Multiplex Cinema

25

17

8

down 5

38

06 Hotel, Food & Dr.

G: Take Away Shops (e.g. fish bars etc.)

24

11

13

up 1

39

07 Leisure

N: Mixed Leisure Complex

24

15

9

up 1

41

03 Residential

F: Sheltered Accommodation

21

12

9

up 20

42

05 Health

F: Nursing Home

21

12

9

up 20

43

06 Hotel, Food & Dr.

I: Public House (without restaurant)

21

13

8

up 1

44

12 Civic Amenity

A: Recycling Centre

21

10

11

up 5

45

04 Education

D: Nursery

20

11

9

down 8

46