Vehicle travel trends in Canada tool
The Vehicle travel trends in Canada tool showcases travel trends throughout the country in various data points. Metrics used, with data provided by INRIX Travel Trends, include trip count, trip duration, average distance, and vehicle miles travelled. The data points will be updated on a quarterly basis to provide auto care businesses the opportunity to make strategic business decisions.
For inquiries regarding the tool and the data, please contact AIA Canada’s research team at research@aiacanada.com.
Average travel distance
Trip count
Trip duration
About the Vehicle travel trends in Canada tool
The Vehicle travel trends in Canada tool presents data on four different metrics: distance travelled, or vehicle kilometres travelled, trip count, trip duration, and average travel distance. The data points are provided on a national and provincial level. The tool was created using data from INRIX Trip Trends.
INRIX Trip Trends is a summary of vehicle kilometres travelled, trip volumes, travel time, and distance travelled covering various regions around the world. It was conceived as a way to allow business and governments to keep track of the rate and distribution of travel, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to monitor the impact on trucking, goods delivery, and recovery thereof as the pandemic winds to a close. The tool provides sought after data points to facilitate strategic business decision making. The data provided in this tool is updated quarterly.
Term definitions
- Trip count: Total number of trips associated with a single vehicle type, geography, date, and time of day bin, scaled to baseline time period.
- Vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT): Total distance travelled by a single vehicle type in a given geography, date, and time of day bin, scaled to baseline time period.
- Trip duration: Total time spent traveling by a single vehicle type in a given geography, date, and time of day bin, scaled to baseline time period.
- Average trip distance: Average per-trip distance travelled by a single vehicle type in a given geography, date, and time of day bin, scaled to baseline time period.
Methodology
There are four metrics presented in Trip Trends: distance travelled, or vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT), trip count, trip duration, and average travel distance. To normalize these metrics, INRIX Trip Trends first establish a range of dates that would be considered typical with respect travel demand and traveler behavior. These “typical” dates are defined as all non-holiday dates in 2020 between January 20th and February 28th, inclusive. Documented school holidays are excluded as much as possible. From these dates, we compute the median trip count, distance travelled, trip duration, and mean trip distance by day of week and (for cities, counties, and zip codes only) time of day bins. The values you are seeing in the plots represent the observed measure divided by the median typical value for that measure for that day of week and/or time of day bin. In practical terms, this represents the observed measure as a fraction of what would be expected in the absence of a global pandemic.
All metrics have been seasonally adjusted. In the Trip Trends context, seasonal adjustment describes a process by which the data from the baseline time period is adjusted to reflect the expected values for a given time of year, assuming an annual trend of zero.
Trip count: INRIX Trips are created using data from a variety of sources, including in-vehicle navigation, mobile applications and software development kits (SDKs), and commercial vehicle transponders. As one can imagine, there is a certain amount of heterogeneity present in terms of GPS ping frequency and the extent to which individual trips are discernable from collections of GPS points. The INRIX Trips engine parses all incoming GPS data, delineates GPS points into self-contained trips with clearly defined start and end points, and applies a series of methods to add additional information such as endpoint quality ratings and travel mode.
Vehicles kilometers travelled (VKT) or travel distance: we use the sum GPS point pair distance as a proxy for VKT. Under ordinary circumstances this might tend to skew the VKT relationship between different locations toward those with lower road density/complexity, this is not an issue for Trip Trends because each location is normalized to its own baseline.
Trip duration: Using the output of the INRIX Trips Engine, total trip duration is computed as the sum difference in time between the start and end points of all trips for a given vehicle type and time period originating in a region.
Average travel distance: Average travel distance is estimated as the following ratio of Travel distance / Trip count, where these metrics are computed for each region, and time period.
Disclaimer
The Automotive Industries Association of Canada (AIA Canada) makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, with respect to the content, accuracy, truthfulness or reliability of any information contained in the tool, whether in full or in part, including any warranty of title, non-infringement of copyright or any other rights of others, merchantability, or fitness or suitability for any purpose. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, by using or attempting to use this tool, the user expressly acknowledges that there are no warranties or representations made by AIA Canada regarding the content of this report in terms of this accuracy or its completeness. In no event shall AIA Canada be liable for any damages whatsoever resulting from, arising out of or in connection with the use of any information provided in this tool.
All material is provided by INRIX Travel Trends for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a professional opinion. Please exercise independent judgment in using any material.
About INRIX
Founded in 2004, INRIX pioneered the practice of managing traffic by analyzing data not just from road sensors, but also from vehicles. This breakthrough approach enabled INRIX to become one of the leading providers of data and insight into how people move around the world.
INRIX delivers innovative products for the automotive and transportation industries such as real-time parking and traffic information and solutions that facilitate the safe testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles. We also provide new insights to a variety of other industries that can make better business decisions by understanding how people move throughout the day.
At INRIX, we see a world of possibilities enabled by making transportation more intelligent.
Contact
Should you have any questions concerning the report and data, please contact AIA Canada’s research team at research@aiacanada.com.