How to complete the NHTS survey – FAQ

Why do we ask questions about sex and gender?

We ask about the sex and gender of respondents to determine travel habits of persons. They will be used for statistical purposes and for public transport development.

• NTA Transport Modelling aligns survey questions with existing CSO Data Standards  where possible.
• These standards are used for the NHTS 2026 questions on sex and gender.
  • CSO Data Standard for Sex – CSO – Central Statistics Office
  • CSO Data Standard for Gender – CSO – Central Statistics Office

Where are your household’s cars or vans usually parked overnight?

• What is on-street parking?

  • On-street parking refers to parking spaces located along public roads and streets, usually marked by signs or road markings.

• What is a driveway?

  • Driveway refers to a short road or paved area leading from a public road or street to a house.

• What is a garage?

  • A garage refers to a building where a car is parked, built next to or as part of a house.

• What is a car park?

  • A car park refers to an dedicated area or building where cars or other vehicles can be parked.

Q8. Which of these describes your household situation at this address? Tick one

• When should I choose, ‘living with family members (no children aged 15 or under)’?

  • If your household consists of individuals who are part of a family group, such as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins but does not include any children 15 or under.
  • If you are a married couple with no children, you should choose this option

• When should I choose, ‘Living on your own’?

  • If you live by yourself without anyone else in your home.

• When should I choose, ‘Sharing a house / apartment / flat with others / house share’?

  • If you live with one or more persons that you are not related to and share a living space.

• When should I choose, ‘Living as a couple’?

  • If you live with another person in your household but are not married to or in a civil partnership with that person.

• Living with family members (including children aged 15 or under)

  • If your household consists of individuals who are part of a family group, such as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins and any children aged 15 or under.

What is a Frequent Destination?

• A frequent destination is any place you go to regulary during the assigned two days such as a place of work, or school or university or another place like the gym. Please enter the full address details of these places in the Frequent Destinations section of the Travel Diary. By doing this you have to write in the addresses of your frequent destinations only once. This helps to simplify the recording of trips in the trip log.
• Home Address: Write your home address and Eircode and record as ‘Home’ when referring to your home address in the travel diary.
• Regular Place of Work: If you have a regular place of work, write the full address and Eircode of your place of work and record as ‘Work’ on the diary when referring to your place of work.
• Regular place of Education – School/ University: If you regularly go to a school/ University for education record as ‘School’/’Uni’ on the diary when referring to your place of education.
• Other Place: If you regularly go to another place other than work or school/ Uni record as ‘Other place’ on the diary.

Instructions to complete the Travel Diary

• The travel diary days are those indicated on the label at the front of this diary and the day starts at 4.00am until 3.59am the next day. For example, if you were on night shift, your journey Home from Work in the morning would be the first trip of the day
• Please record all trips made on each of the two travel diary days.
• A trip is defined as a one-way journey of 50 metres or more made for a specific purpose by any mode of travel. It has an origin and a destination and excludes children playing outdoors.
• Please include all trips by any mode of transport (for example walking, cycling, jogging, electric bike, e-scooter, scheduled bus, school bus, DART/train, Luas, car, van, taxi/hackney, motorbike, scooter, moped).
• A new trip starts when the trip purpose changes. It starts from where the last trip finished. For example, if you drive children to school, and then drive to work, this counts as two trips.
• Return journeys should be recorded as two trips. Each time the purpose of the trip changes, this counts as a new trip. If you stop somewhere and do something, this means the end of a trip and the beginning of a new trip.
• Remember to include every leg of a trip where the main mode is public transport. Public transport trips should be multi-modal (for example Walk-Bus-Walk or Cycle-Train-Walk).
• People who drive for a living, for example bus drivers, taxi drivers, delivery drivers, couriers and so on should only include trips to and from their depot/office/place of work/first collection point and so on.
• If you drive for a living, all other trips in connection with your job do not need to be recorded individually. Please enter the kilometres travelled for work that day at the bottom of the second page of the diary page for that day.
• Please include all walks of 50 metres or more.
• If you do not have a destination, like when you go for a drive or walk for enjoyment, write ‘Round Trip’ for the purpose.
• All trips made by household members aged four or over should be recorded.
• Where children aged four or over are not able to complete their diaries themselves, adults should complete the diary on their behalf. All their trips still need to be recorded in their diary even if they were accompanied by someone else in the household. We do not require a travel diary for children under four years old.

Travel Diary – Car Availability

• When completing the Travel Diary this question should be answered regardless of the mode of transport
• If there was a car or van available for a journey and you used it then tick Yes [√ ]
• If there was a car or van available for a journey but you chose not to use it then still tick Yes [√ ]