Having spent several decades designing and conducting large-scale travel surveys working in academia and in The Urban Transport Institute, it was difficult to stop that work in 2012 when TUTI was prematurely closed down.

However, the opportunity to continue survey projects came about in the most unlikely circumstances after purchasing a replica Dutch barge to cruise on European waterways (www.kanumbra.com), and becoming a Board Member of DBA - The Barge Association. Given the global membership of about 2000 members owning 1500 boats, and the dispersed nature of their cruising patterns on the canals and rivers of the UK and Europe, it was critical for the Board to understand how members used their boats and what issues were of greatest importance to them. A survey of DBA members was therefore proposed and, given my background and experience, I was asked to undertake the task on a volunteer basis.

The initial survey conducted in 2011 was an email based survey, with a reminder email a couple of weeks later. This resulted in an overall response rate of 60%. Follow-up surveys were conducted in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019. Over time the methodology changed to an online survey, the job changed from volunteer to paid consultancy and the response rate dropped to 40%. While some questions changed to meet the information needs in that year, a core set of questions remained unchanged in order to obtain a time series database of barge usage. each year the results of the survey were published in Blue Flag, the bi-monthly journal of DBA, and this engendered feedback from the membership about the results, which increased the value of the surveys to the Board Members as they made decisions about the future of the DBA.

DBA - The Barge Association Members' Surveys

Click here for full copy of  2019 Members' Survey article in Blue Flag #143