The UW’s Department of Transportation Services started its biennial transportation survey yesterday.

The survey started in 1992 when the Washington State Legislature passed the Commute Trip Reduction Law, which requires large employers to conduct a biennial survey and create a commute trip reduction program.

The commuter services team of the Department of Transportation Services worked with Metro and Sound Transit to create the survey, said Joshua Kavanagh, UW director of transportation services.

Metro, Community and Sound Transit also use the data to help estimate ridership, which determines how much the agencies bill the UW for the U-PASS. Kavanagh wrote in an e-mail that the UW’s Seattle campus will pay $11,959,997 to Metro Transit for the 2008-2009 U-PASS.

The department also uses the survey to adjust services and facilities to meet its goals of being a good neighbor, helping students, faculty and staff commute more easily and encouraging lower-impact transportation to protect the environment.

The 2006 survey found increases in working or studying from home and bus ridership, while the number of people who carpooled decreased. Faculty were the most likely to drive alone and least likely to ride the bus to campus.

Kavanagh, who cycles and rides the bus to work, said that from his own observations he expects to see bicycling increase, but that the survey is important in gathering hard data that may counter anecdotal evidence.

The department pays Opinion Research Northwest $20,000 to conduct the survey, which is estimated to take 10 to 12 minutes. Those chosen to be surveyed will first receive an e-mail, and later a phone call if they don’t respond to the e-mail.

The law requires responses from at least 70 percent of the 1,600 students, 760 staff and 780 faculty surveyed.

Although UW junior Jacob Morgan, who frequently takes the bus late at night after studying on campus, believes the U-PASS Web site to be confusing, he does not think much needs to be done to improve transportation itself at the UW.

“I love the bus system here,” he said. “[The buses] run really late at night and sometimes you just need that.”

Kavanagh asks that those surveyed try to be as accurate as possible when answering the survey.

“If they get the call, please participate and be precise in their answers,” he said. “Good information will mean a great deal in how we evolve U-PASS in the future.”

Reach reporter Roselle Kingsbury at news@dailyuw.com.