FAQ – Traffic

Frequently asked questions regarding our traffic insight.

What is included in your traffic reports?

First, we include the industry standard Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT). This shows the typical vehicle traffic per day in front of your location.

However, as most experts will tell you, AADT is only the beginning of the story.

Let’s consider a scenario. Let’s say you’re opening a coffee shop for morning commuters and are looking for a heavily trafficked street to locate on. You look around and finally find a strong prospect with 15,000 vehicles per day. It’s priced right and seems to be in good condition! Great location, right?

Well, maybe. Those 15,000 vehicles could be evenly spread throughout the day, cutting the morning traffic down to three or four thousand. A thorough consideration of traffic at other locations may show that while another location has a lower AADT, morning traffic counts are higher than four thousand elsewhere. Furthermore, since the average daily count is lower at our hypothetical comparable location, rent is likely to be lower as well because marketers can’t use it as a selling point. You might be missing out on a great deal that would have netted you more customers because you didn’t fully understand your location’s morning traffic. And of course, this example can apply to other times of day as well. That’s why we provide time-of-day vehicle traffic counts in addition to AADT.

Get Started

Let’s continue with the coffee shop example. You found a location with high morning traffic counts. But we’re not done yet! You need to know side-of-street traffic before you can nail this one down. Morning commuters generally head in one direction: toward work. Generally, this is toward an urban area, away from residential areas. If you choose the wrong side of the street, you’re erecting a huge obstacle between yourself and your customers. For your customers to reach you, they must:

1. See your sign from across a busy road.

2. Navigate into the turn lane.

3. Wait until they can cross the street. This may involve going through a light (potentially several lights), oncoming traffic, pedestrians, or otherwise backing up the traffic behind them.

4. Cross the street, potentially requiring a U-turn that causes them to go backwards – AWAY from their final destination.

5. Pull into your lot, buy their coffee, leave.

6. Turn out of your lot and make their way back to the other lane (with all the same barriers).

7. Finally, continue to make their way to work.

We’ll tell you right now: that’s a lot of effort for a $3 cup of coffee! Instead of causing that collective hassle, you should instead aim to be on the same side of the street as your customers from day one. We provide counts by side of the street so you can make the right decisions to reach your customers.

Finally, AADT only provides an average between weekdays and weekends. You’ve decided your target audience will be morning commuters. Do you think they’ll be driving by on weekend mornings, when they’d rather be sleeping in, eating brunch at a local diner, and spending time with their families? You’re going to spend a lot of time, energy, and money developing your brand as a stop for morning commuters. This is a competitive segment and if you’re on a road better suited for weekend warriors, then you’re not reaching the audience for whom you are spending valuable ad dollars. That’s why we provide day-of-week traffic counts alongside everything else.

Can I compare vehicle traffic for multiple roads in an area?

Yes! You can add up to 10 other roads to one report.

Where does your data come from?

Our provider, INRIX, tabulates these counts from 300 million devices and vehicles across 1.8 million roads throughout the United States.

How recent is your data?

While most public and private traffic data providers include counts up to a decade old, our data is updated annually. Dense metropolitan areas tend to have more recent counts (monthly updates).

What differentiates your counts from the state Department of Transportation?

Most public counts only track average annual daily traffic (AADT). We take it three steps further by providing not only AADT, but also side-of-street, day-of-week, and time-of-day traffic counts. Trust us, you don’t want to be on the wrong side of the street at lunchtime on weekdays.

How much does it cost?

Each of our reports cost $99. Every report includes Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT), Day of Week traffic, Time of Day traffic, and Side of Street traffic. You can also add up to 10 other roads to one report. The data we provide normally costs large brands hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to access, let alone digest. We consider $99 per report a bargain and guarantee our reports are worth your money! However, if for any reason you are not satisfied after running your report, just let us know and we will provide a full refund.

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