The LATS survey will be used to forecast future demands in transport and to assess plans for major projects such as Cross-Rail and the East Thames river crossings. Answers contained in the survey will also provide major pointers on to how to improve public transport services and roads and how to reduce overcrowding and congestion, increase safety and enhance the environment. The survey of households, picked at random within the M25 boundary, consists of a home visit by a trained researcher with an identity card. The researcher will compile a dossier of all trips made on a specific day by each member of the household. Everyone taking part will then be asked to fill in their own travel diary for a second day s travel and send the results in by post.
Respondents are guaranteed anonymity.
The first results of the household survey are expected to be available in autumn 2002, with publication of the main results by mid-2003. A second survey for drivers will also be conducted this year at about 750 sites around the M25 boundary, inner London and central London. Each site will be surveyed in a single day and is designed to collect data on the origin and destinations of private vehicles.