City to launch traffic survey next week

SHANGHAI is to launch its sixth traffic survey from next Thursday, the Shanghai Transportation Commission said.

The survey will wrap up before the end of next year with results expected in 2021. It will have five categories namely getting around, cargo transport, traffic systems, new traffic issues and big data.

A key part of the survey is to find out how locals get around the city on a daily basis. From September 19 to 26, traffic authority officers will visit 51,000 households in 913 residential complexes to hand out the survey forms. The officers will collect them on a second visit.

“Private information, including names, incomes, property and phone numbers will not be a part of the survey,” said an officer. “Nor will the survey look in detail at anyone’s commuting pattern.”

The commission said if participants are foreigners, they would send an English-speaking officer to help them with the survey.

The sixth survey will use some new technologies. The authority said that in the previous surveys, they allocated officers to stand at major junctions to count the number of cars passing by. But this time the task will be done with the help of cameras on the streets.

The city’s first traffic survey was in 1986. The results have provided the city with useful information when it planned its elevated road system, Metro network and Hongqiao traffic hub as well as in hosting major events such as the World Expo in 2010 and the China International Import Expo.