EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Texas Department of Transportation wants to know more about your driving habits so it can better plan for the future travel needs in El Paso.
To that end, TxDOT and its research partner ETC Institute are looking for about 2,000 El Paso families to participate in a “household travel survey.”
You can help improve your community while also getting a reward, said Nick Jones, director of data management for ETC Institute, said.
Participating families will get a gift card, ranging from $20 to $100, depending on the number of household members and how they participate. There are about 50 different types of gift cards — Walmart, Amazon, Target and more — that you can choose from, Jones said.
“There are a lot of sketchy or scammy things out there,” Jones said. “This is to improve your region. It is going to help your community and you also receive an incentive to participate.”
About 500 households are already onboard for the survey, which is beginning now that school has started back up. Another 2,000 households are needed, Jones said. The survey is slated to wrap up in December.
“We want a good representation of the region,” Jones said.
“We do this type of survey for TxDOT all over the state,” Jones said. “We have been working with TxDOT for about 20 years now. What we do is go into specific metro areas and we will recruit residents to do our household travel surveys.”
They ask households to tell them a little bit about themselves, get information about their vehicles and driving habits.
“Then, we get 24 hours of travel information from them,” Jones said. “This information goes back to TxDOT and the local area planning organizations and it really helps them understand how residents travel in the region so they can make more informed budget decisions and road improvements based on the actual needs of the area.”
ETC Institute is sending out postcards to potential households to participate.
“Be on the lookout for that,” he said.
Jones said it is a fun way to help your community and get rewarded in the process.
If you are interested in participating, you can click here for more information.
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