Breaking Down the Cost of Transport Surveys: How Much Does a Household Survey Really Cost?

Good transport data doesn’t come cheap — but no reliable data at all costs even more.

Among the biggest barriers in conducting household surveys is their price tag. But is cost really a hindrance, or an investment in better decisions? Today, we will unpack that.

In this short piece, we will demystify and break down the real cost of transport surveys. If you’re with a local government unit (LGU), a research center, or a funding institution, this article will be especially relevant for you.

Public Transport Planning data requirements. Presentation during SafeTravelPH Parasol Forum last April 2025.

In our previous blog post, we have highlighted the importance of household-level transport data. This time, we go a step further: making the case that such surveys are not just necessary, but worth every peso.

Before funding a large-scale survey, it is important to know not just the cost, but the component expenses as well. We list the general expenses below:

1. Field Manpower

   This goes beyond just hiring surveyors. You also need field supervisors and area coordinators at the very least to oversee daily operations, ensure protocols are followed, and troubleshoot challenges in the field. Their presence is critical to maintain consistency and data quality across multiple locations.

2. Training

   Training is essential to standardize how questions are asked and how data are recorded. Proper training of field team members is crucial as it directly contributes to the quality of data they will be able collect. Costs here include trainers’ fees, training venues, and materials. For large-scale or national surveys, a training of trainers model is often used, so multiple trainers can conduct parallel sessions across regions — speeding up field deployment while keeping everyone aligned.

3. Technical Working Group (TWG)

   The TWG covers the brains behind the survey: statisticians, subject matter experts (e.g., transport specialists), and data analysts who design the questionnaire, identify an appropriate sampling design, process and analyze the data. They also include quality assurance staff who monitor submissions in real time and flag errors. Costs can be reduced if you already have a questionnaire ready to deploy, instead of building one from scratch.

4. Materials and Digital Tools

   Depending on the mode of data collection, this can include printing paper questionnaires, providing folders and pens. Most recent surveys (and PSA does it this way too) now equip enumerators with smartphones or tablets, SIM card and/or load allowance, and power banks. The subscription to the data encoding platform used to fill out the questionnaire also falls under this category. Incorporating digital tools makes data encoding easier and faster. 

   
   

Other costs may include:

• Logistics and Transportation

  Enumerators and supervisors need to get to their assigned areas. This means daily transportation allowances, vehicle rentals, or even flights/boat trips and accommodations for remote areas.

• Incentives

  While not always required, some surveys provide small tokens of appreciation (e.g., meryenda packs, rice) to respondents. This can help improve participation rates and reduce refusals.

  
  

With the topline survey costs laid out, let’s turn to a sample scenario and estimate the numbers. Suppose San Kalabasa City’s LGU is considering the implementation of a household interview survey to better understand commuting patterns, transport mode preferences, and vehicle ownership among its constituents. They have identified the following requirements:

Field manpower	Two field teams, each with 4 enumerators and 1 field supervisor One survey lead / area coordinator  Salary will be paid on a daily basis, with transportation allowance incorporated into it
Training	3-day training (expenses include rental of venue, lunch and snacks) Trainer from the Technical Working Group
Technical Working Group	Lead statistician (1)  Data analysts (2)
Materials and Digital Tools	Printing of the following: training materials, printed questionnaires as backup, pens, folders Survey will be carried out primarily by a smartphone through an online survey form. The online survey form is subscription-based
Sample size	1,200

San Kalabasa City LGU have kept the requirements almost at a minimum. They already have a developed questionnaire ready for deployment. They also claim that they already have transport specialists available among their staff. Given these conditions, the remaining expenses boil down to the following:

Field manpower	Enumerators: ₱1,400 ⤫ 8 Field supervisor: ₱1,500 ⤫ 2 Survey lead: ₱1,500 ⤫ 1 No. of fieldwork days: 1200 households ÷ 8 enumerators ÷ 6 households per day = 25 Subtotal: (11,200 + 3,000 + 1,500) ⤫ 25 = ₱392,500
Training	Venue and snacks = ₱15,000 No. of training days: 3 Subtotal: 15,000 ⤫ 3 = ₱45,000
Technical Working Group	Estimated 3-month contract for the 3-person team: ₱300,000
Materials and Digital Tools	Printing: ₱50,000 Pens and folders: ₱200 Load: ₱50 ⤫ 11 people ⤫ 25 days Powerbanks: ₱700 ⤫ 10 people Online survey form, 3 months subscription: ₱12,000 Subtotal: ₱82,950
Total estimated cost	₱820,450

In the grand scheme of things, that cost is not bad at all. Household surveys will always require investment, but there are still ways that LGUs can spend smartly. Partnering with universities for technical support, doing some of the training online (e.g., 1 day online, 2 days face-to-face), and tapping existing staff as the survey lead or field supervisors, are some of the ways to cut costs without sacrificing data quality.

Ideally, national surveys conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), like the CBMS, should incorporate a subset of travel demand and preference surveys, similar to practices in other countries. These more comprehensive surveys would ensure broader coverage and samples, providing additional socioeconomic datasets that are relevant to travel choices.

At the end of the day, the question is not whether surveys are expensive, but whether the insights they provide are worth the investment. With the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) now a mandatory task for LGUs, and transportation having the biggest budget share in the national government, investing in quality data has become even more urgent. Household surveys should not be seen as optional cost items to be cut from transport planning, but as the very foundation for designing efficient, people-centered services.