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19 | P a g e Chapter 2 Research Approach Given the industryâs complexity, there are a number of motivating factors in play in toll road choice, including the type of trucking operation (e.g., private fleet versus for-hire) or the driverâs relationship with his or her employer (e.g., company driver, versus independent owner/operator). This section of the report outlines the research approach. Targeting Actors in Trucking Business Transactions The data collection effort attempted to capture a representative sample of the many actors involved in the trucking transaction and their influence on toll payment. The âSurvey Constructâ section (below) describes the actual survey instrument and questions. The survey contained âbranchesâ that directed the respondents to discrete survey questions depending on their answers. From the initial screen, the opening question asks respondents to qualify themselves in one of three ways: ⢠Driver ⢠Trucking Company (employee other than driver) ⢠Shipper/Receiver/3PL The first branching rule designated drivers, and how their relationship to the trucking company might affect their willingness to pay tolls. If the driver is an independent owner/operator, propensity for toll payments might differ from, say, company drivers in the package delivery sector. In the survey instrument, a branch for drivers will ask for a self-identification of the type of company they work for, or the institutional structure in which they operateâindependent owner/operator, dedicated contract carrier, and other pertinent questions. The second main branch in the survey asked the survey respondent to identify the type of carrier they represent, consistent with this typology. The third primary branch was for the beneficial cargo ownerâa shipper, receiver or third party logistics agent. Questions in this part of the survey focused on their contracts with carriers and provisions for toll reimbursement. The section below describes these three primary audiences in more detail, and the conduit for contacting industry representatives to take the survey. Drivers Researchers contacted drivers through associations like the OOIDA and ATA, as well as through those organizationsâ publications and newsletters. Through interactions at truck shows, drivers were surveyed in person and also invited to the project website to take the survey. Finally, the research team used social media and internet blogs to communicate the survey to the trucking industry. This included a Facebook® page with links to other trucker-oriented community pages, and truck websites with discussion boards, such as www.truck.net.
20 | P a g e Trucking Companies The research team was assisted by the American Trucking Associations, which provided state association contacts in the states below, which in turn distributed the survey to their membership databases. ⢠California ⢠Connecticut ⢠Florida ⢠Massachusetts ⢠Maryland ⢠Michigan ⢠New Jersey ⢠New York ⢠Illinois ⢠Indiana ⢠Kansas ⢠Ohio ⢠Oklahoma ⢠Pennsylvania ⢠Texas Another conduit for trucking companies was the National Private Truck Council, which represents private motor carrier fleets. There are approximately 650 firms represented in the National Private Truck Councilâs membership database. The third conduit for trucking companies is the Truckload Carriers Association, providing a focus on the truckload segment of the industry: dry van, refrigerated, flatbed, intermodal container, and end-dump carriers. Beneficial Cargo Owners, Third Party Logistics Providers, Freight Intermediaries The research team contacted the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals for distribution of the survey to its membership. The Council is a worldwide association involved in research and collaboration on supply chain management issues. Its membership totals 8,500 worldwide, though the survey would focus on just U.S. membership. Members of the research team also attended the National Industrial Transportation League annual meeting; the League has extensive activities in surface transportation policy development and advocacy. Survey Construct The truck tolling survey was constructed using Ultimate Survey software. The survey required about 10 minutes to complete, which was within the tolerance of most respondents. Appendix B contains an outline of the survey.
21 | P a g e Survey Distribution The online survey was hosted through a project website. With the assistance of organizations such as the American Trucking Associations, links to the project website and survey were distributed to target audiences via electronic mail. Quality Control The survey program, Ultimate Survey, has built-in quality control mechanisms. The survey required complete responses for submittal. The research team also identified multiple responses from the same computer (IP address) to hedge against a respondent or group of respondents âfloodingâ the survey with multiple responses (on the other hand, some companies or drivers might share a computer, so instances of multiple responses from the same IP address underwent review to ensure legitimacy.) Website for Survey The research team created a public website www.trucktolling.org. While the website provided background on the study purpose, its main function was to serve as the host of the survey. Visitors who landed on the webpage had the ability to take the survey if they so desired. For surveying target audiences, however, the research team relied on electronic mailings, which linked respondents directly to the survey page itself. Shipper, Trucking Company, and Driver Interviews The survey results provided a data set for review and analysis by the research team and oversight panel. To accompany this quantitative analysis, qualitative interviews were conducted with target audiences, primarily at industry trade shows. As with the survey, the target audiences are drivers, trucking companies, and shippers. The in-person interviews did not follow the online version verbatim, due to time limitations on personal surveys. Rather, the in-person interviews gathered critical demographic information, such as private fleet driver versus independent owner-operator, and provided open-ended questions to probe attitudes about tolling in a qualitative manner. Appendices C and D contain the instrument for these surveys. The following dates and venues were used for in-person surveys: Weigh Station and Rest Area Survey, Greater Chicago Area, June 21 to July 2, 2010 The Greater Chicago area was chosen as a test of the survey instrument in a field setting. Three sites offer the opportunity to intercept truck drivers whom have both taken and avoided toll routes in the Chicago area, as well as long haul truckers. ⢠Highway 41 weigh station in Waukegan, Illinois ⢠I-94 Rest Area, Kenosha, Wisconsin (Exit 347) ⢠Illinois Tollway Lake Forest (Illinois) Oasis, I-294 Great American Truck Show, Dallas, Texas, August 26-28, 2010 The Great American Truck Show was held at the Dallas Convention Center and drew over 46,000 attendees. The survey team rented a booth and conducted in-person interviews with drivers, and distributed postcards with the survey website for people who wanted to fill out the survey online.
22 | P a g e Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, San Diego, California, September 26-29, 2010 The Council of Supply Chain Management Professional is an organization of shippers, Third Party Logistics Providers, carriers and educators. This event draws 3,000-5,000 per year. It is estimated that 60 percent of the attendees are shippers, and the remaining 40 percent is roughly equally divided among the other categories of participants. At this event, a member of the research team distributed postcards which provided information for taking the survey online, and addressed a number of educational sessions to describe the intent of the research and encourage participation in the survey. Great American Truck Show, Charlotte, North Carolina, October 8-9, 2010 The Charlotte Truck Show was selected to draw specialized carriers, as the event was targeted at construction vehicles, bulk commodity haulers, and off-road operators. Preregistration indicated that the event attracted about 20,000 participants, with the majority of drivers being owner operators, and about 25 percent being company drivers. TRANSCOMP Exhibition, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, November 13-17, 2010 This event was jointly sponsored by the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) and Intermodal Association of North America (IANA). The NITL has a group of shippers, highly interested in transportation issues and has a transportation sub-committee. The IANA group is dominated by rail, ocean, truck and Intermodal Marketing Companies. During committee meetings, a member of the research team made presentations about the research and solicited participation from the attendees.
