Helsinki to conduct study on residents’ travel habits

About 20,000 randomly selected residents of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen over 7 years of age will receive an invitation to HSL’s Travel Survey in autumn 2019, said the City of Helsinki in a bulletin.

The survey will provide valuable information about people’s travel habits to support decision-making and development of plans so do respond to the survey if invited.

The first invitations will be sent on 22 August and the last invitations on 23 November. Invitations will be sent to a total of 19,760 residents of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen. HSL needs comprehensive, research-based information to support decision-making and transport planning and we encourage residents to respond to the survey. The only way to obtain an overall view of people's travel habits and reasons for travel is to conduct an extensive sample survey.

The survey aims to collect information about travel by residents of all ages using all modes of transport. Consequently, it is of outmost importance that all those invited to the survey respond, whether they travel by car, public transport, bicycle, foot or even if they do not travel at all.

“This autumn, we also study how the introduction of the new HSL fare zones, A, B ,C and D, has affected people’s travel habits in the capital region,” said HSL’s Transport Analyst Elina Brandt.

The Travel Survey is conducted by HSL and the capital region municipalities, Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen.

The survey is online. Also children aged 7 years and above will be invited. Children can respond independently or with the help of a parent. In addition to responding to questions about their travel habits in general, the respondents are asked to fill in a travel diary recording the journeys they make during a predetermined day.

As the Travel Survey is a statistical survey, with respondents selected randomly to represent the residents of the municipalities participating in the survey, only those invited to the survey can respond.

The results of the survey are useful for municipal decision-makers, the media, researchers as well as transport and town planners. By responding, you can affect the way your travel needs are taken into consideration in transport planning. The first results are expected in March 2020.