Study Of Worker Travel

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31774, 3 September 1968, Page 1

Study Of Worker Travel

In an exercise on transport and town planning, civil engineering and geography students of the University of Canterbury will tomorrow question about 800 employees of the City, Sydenham, Riccarton, and Northlands stores of Hay’s, Ltd, and its Northlands factory about their journeys to work.

Employees in nine occupational categories will be asked to answer a questionnaire on their sex, age group, marital status, dependent children or relatives, home location, and mode of travel, and then a series on their parking customs, distance of park from work, frequency in using various forms of transport, and factors which influence their 1

mode of travel. Other questions will concern time and costs of travel in given circumstances.

This survey is similar to others conducted by the uni-

versify on town planning and transport. A book, “Traffic in a New Zealand City,” written by university staff, described a comprehensive survey made for the Christchurch Regional Planning Authority in 1959. In 1962 and 1966, university staff and students studied the travel and parking needs of the university community and the results have provided interesting research projects for students of both civil engineering and geography. Hay’s, Ltd, has been chosen for the survey because it has branches in various parts of Christchurch and a wide range of occupations. The firm has offered full co-operation, although it will get little, if any, benefit from the results. No staff member is obliged to answer questions, but all have been told of the value of the exercise in training students in survey techniques which are becoming increasingly important to town planners and other public authorities.