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Today's environment
requires both public and private sector executives to make significant
decisions in a timely manner, using the best market research information
available. Decision makers must have high returns on the information
provided. It is our aim at M. Davis and Company, Inc. to provide
government agency executives a product — high return on
information (ROInfo™) — that most effectively identifies
challenges facing their organizations and best solutions to those
challenges.
ROInfo™,
through the use of a range of research methods and techniques,
program designs and monitoring tools, provides clients with critical
information in real time. This timely presentation of critical
performance information improves executive decision making and
organizational performance.
We hope to
use this newsletter to highlight for transportation executives
some of the current research, key findings, initiatives and best
practices in the industry. We welcome your comments.
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CASRO
and CMOR
CONGRATULATIONS
to Morris R. Davis, President and Founder of M. Davis and Company,
Inc. He was recently elected as a Board Member and Officer of
(1) The Council of American Survey
Research Organizations (CASRO), as well as co-chairing and playing
a lead role in (2) The Council for
Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR) Task Force.
Officers
of the 2003 CASRO Board of Directors
2002 Secretary Morris R. Davis
(M. Davis and Company, Inc.), 2003 Board Chair Paul
A. Talmey (Talmey-Drake Research & Strategy,
Inc.), CASRO President Diane K.
Bowers, 2003 Treasurer Dale
S. Lersch (PERT Survey Research), and 2003 Chair-Elect
Simon Chadwick (NOP
World).
 (1)
The Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO)
is the trade association of survey research businesses, representing
nearly 200 companies and research operations in the United States,
Canada, and Mexico.
CASRO works
to fully serve its members, the industry and the public. Our volunteer
committees are: Annual Conference, Benchmarking Best Practices,
CASRO University, Financial/Compensation/Internet Research Survey,
Global Liaison, Government and Legal Affairs, Guidelines and Practices,
Marketing and Communications, Membership Services, Past Chairs
Council, Publications, Standards, and Technology. We have sets
of guidelines that address business practices in general as well
as specific aspects of the survey research process, such as data
collection, data processing, and reporting survey results. For
most of our history, we have served as the watchdog for any proposed
changes in government regulations or legislation that could affect
the research industry. And, importantly, we are now working with
other industry associations to coordinate industry supported initiatives
in the areas of government affairs, respondent cooperation, assessing
client needs from research, education and training, and professional
and industry identity.
One major
common ground for all CASRO members is the belief in the value
and necessity of survey research in today's world. Whether it
is research standards, business ethics and practices or research
processes, CASRO mandates its members to respect the public's
rights to confidentiality and privacy as well as encourage its
members to offer their clients the highest quality of service,
and to grow their employees' skills and proficiencies. To find
out more about CASRO, please visit their website at: www.casro.org.
 (2)
CMOR was established as The Council for Marketing & Opinion
Research in 1992 by four major marketing and market & opinion
research trade associations:
American
Marketing Association (AMA)
Advertising Research Foundation (ARF)
Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO)
Marketing Research Association (MRA)
These associations
have been joined by more than 150 corporations and organizations
that conduct and/or use marketing and opinion research. Together,
under the CMOR umbrella and leadership, we work to further the
acceptance of marketing and opinion research by the public and
the government, through education, lobbying, and providing legislative
support to prevent abuses of the research process.
CMOR also
designs and implements programs that help ensure improved access
to consumers, so that respondent awareness of the value of research
increases and respondent cooperation rates improve. To find out
more about CMOR, please visit their website at: www.cmor.org.
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Increasing
Transit Ridership: Lessons Learned from the Most Successful Transit
Systems in the 1990s
Nationwide,
about two-thirds of the federally subsidized public transit systems
increased patronage during the late 1990s (1994-1999), a period
in which transit ridership nationwide increased by 13 percent.
Why did some systems gain riders and others lost riders? Was it
happenstance? Were the systems fortunate to be in the right place
at the right time? Did the successful transit systems establish
new services or fare structures that attracted new riders, or
do population and employment growth alone explain the ridership
increase? A study report released in May 2002 by The Mineta
Transportation Institute addresses these questions.
The study
found that large increases in transit ridership are driven by
several factors. Transit executives interviewed for the study
attributed ridership increases to a various combination of initiatives.
The top four programs, ranked by frequency of mention, contributing
to ridership growth are:
- Service
Expansion
- Route Restructuring
- Advertising/Information
Programs
- Introduction
of New/Specialized Services
In addition
to these programmatic initiatives, the transit executives interviewed
identified market research as a key management
tool. Examples of market research identified by study participating
transit agencies include:
- Long Beach
Transit reported extensive use of marketing data and analysis,
including annual rider surveys for the past 20 years. The questions
asked each year help enable the definition of emerging trends
and service adjustments made accordingly.
- New York
Transit collects a wide variety of data, including extensive
measures of ridership and passenger satisfaction, as well as
travel journals, providing the system with powerful analytic
tools.
- In Riverside,
California, OMNITRANS uses market segmentation data to target
specific groups with direct mail advertising.
- Portland
Tri-Met regards market research as a key management tool and
uses its analysis of market data to support a variety of decisions.
Link to study
report: http://transweb.sjsu.edu.
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Omnibus
Household Survey Program
The Bureau
of Transportation Statistics (BTS) – the federal statistical
agency for the Department of Transportation (DOT) charged with
improving the knowledge base for public decision making –
coordinates the Omnibus Survey Program. The Survey is a DOT-wide
effort to collect information about the U.S. transportation system,
how it is used, and how it is viewed by the users.
BTS gathers
data bi-monthly on a random basis from 1,000 households across
the country to determine the general public’s satisfaction
with the nation’s transportation system and help prioritize
improvements to the system. Every other month the survey contains
a core set of questions about transportation system use and levels
of satisfaction with the DOT, thus allowing for the identification
of bi-monthly trends. Each bi-monthly the survey also contains
questions posed by various operating administrations within the
Department as well as the survey asks questions relating to one
of DOTs goals.
Link to report
on the October 2002 Household Survey of the Omnibus Household
Survey Program: www.bts.gov/omnibus/household/2002/october/index.html.
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ABOUT
M. DAVIS AND COMPANY
M. Davis and
Company, Inc., is a market research and consulting firm that provides
complete services from project conception through implementation.
We aim to ensure that our clients receive a high return on information
(ROInfo™) by employing our unique perspective and market
insights. We help clients make the most of their opportunities
and implement solutions based on the information we provide.
M. Davis and
Company, Inc. was recently re-awarded a contract by the U.S.
Department of Transportation to continue administering
the Omnibus Household Survey. This multi-year
engagement involves the bi-monthly administration of over 1,000
telephone surveys to randomly selected households to gather information
regarding commuting habits and awareness of various Federal safety
initiatives. M. Davis and Company has been successful in raising
the Omnibus Household Survey participation rate from less
than 40% prior to July 2001 to over 50%
for December 2002.
In addition
to the U.S. Department of Transportation, other
recent engagements include:
- Pennsylvania
Turnpike Commission
- Conducted
speed and delay studies to measure times traveled between
specific points on the turnpike at various times during rush
hour and non-rush hour.
- Conducted
330 intercept surveys at various sites to measure attitudes
about value pricing options. Also facilitated another 773
web based surveys by handing out information to those along
the Philadelphia region turnpike corridor.
- Conducted
27 surveys with trucking firm managers to measure attitudes
about value pricing options.
- U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Conducted
research study to identify predictors of length of stay in
HUD supported permanent housing for homeless people with disabilities
and post-departure residential histories of those leaving
permanent housing. Study methodology consisted of both telephone
and in-person interviews.
- U.S.
Army Reserve
- Administered
a telephone survey to over 800 individuals to gain an understanding
of the profile, lifestyle and attitudes of men and women who
currently serve in U. S. Army reserve units.
- M.
Davis and Company has also been administering multi-year
“tracking” studies to measure advertising campaign
effectiveness for clients in the fuel services and hospitality
industries.
We believe
our clients are buying solutions, not volumes of data. To achieve
success, our clients need "added value" and we supply
it. We forge a close relationship with our clients, becoming their
trusted partner, instead of a supplier. With better understanding
of our clients, we narrow the gap between their objectives and
operations by providing information tailored to their needs and
designed to help them achieve: "high margin" information.
Our clients can then employ strategies and tactics that produce
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