Main means of travel to work

"However, a disadvantage of changing to usual means is that the data would be less comparable with previous census data, making it more difficult to measure changes over time."

It is already difficult to do that, given how weather can affect modes. "Usual" is a good idea, but some people may have difficulty with the concept of usual. For me, I choose pretty randomly between walking and cycling. I would find it difficult to nominate one of those as my "usual" mode. At my previous address, I picked daily between bus and train depending on weather and motorway congestion (and my return mode did not always mirror my morning mode).

I also think it'd be valuable to have a question that asked about multiple modes (if applicable) for census day. For instance, the number of people who walk + train can then be distinguished from those who drive + train.

I would change the question to "Usual" method. And add a question about whether they travelled for work this way on Census day.
This would then allow a direct comparison of prior census responses by only selecting answers where the "I travelled for work on Census Day" is answered. While still capturing the "usual" travel to work answers.

Hi Richard and Greg.
Welcome and thanks starting the conversation...

Think this should be normal method of travel and be able to select more than one mode, for example bus and train or walk, ferry,bus. It is nearly impossible to go anywhere in Auckland by only one form of transport.

Can we widen the range of possible answers to include more means of travel? For instance, a lot of students will skateboard to work (university) and it is a quite accepted means of travel. So is scooter, for people who perhaps might be thought of as a little too old for that. For bicycle, we should open up the field to include e-bikes, because it is a rapidly growing segment of the market - and this transport market could change quite rapidly. Likewise for cars, we may want to give options on the type of car ie petrol, diesel, electric, or hybrid. Why not? Make the data usefull for us all! Certainly give the option for picking more than one method - again, in Wellington, there is a reasonable number of people who will carry a fold-up bike on the train, and ride it to work from the train station. It's quite possibly their third means of transport that day - if they drove to the station in the first place.

Noting the existing responses, would there be value in having a preliminary question that seeks out information on what influences one's decision as to the mode of transport used?
Another possible modification would be to have people rank the modes, 1 for the most commonly used, 2 for the next etc with ones left blank deemed to mean that the respondent does not use that mode at all.

I think it would be useful if we could add something on the timing of the journey to work or education. This would be generally very useful as it would give some insights into when travel demands arise and would be particularly useful for educational trips which may be more dispersed through the day. To keep it simple I would suggest that all that is asked is when the journey starts.

I also like Guy's idea of identifying multiple modes and also think it might be useful if ferry was separated out from "other" - showing my Auckland bias!!

Thanks for the ideas.
Picking up some of the points that have been raised.
Jonathan, I suggest you refer/participate in the discussion around Main means of travel to education and educational institution address, which touches on the idea of broadening the question about why a person is traveling.
Re the suggestions about whether we can better capture multi mode travel and more detail about the type of vehicle... these are all good. Keep the ideas coming in. What do other's think?

If capturing multi-mode journeys - which in Auckland by the next Census will be quite common with the changes to allow integrated ticketing so you can catch a bus, train and another bus and pay 1 fare. Yet you've used 3 modes.

Even asking "main" mode alone is fraught with issue - "main" is decided by the longest time spent on that mode? the most distance covered? the most expensive? The one you prefer?

I think we need some science in all this to be able to get relevant and comparable information back out from the questions asked.

And just ticking each mode you used from a list is ok, but what if I catch two buses and 1 train to get to work (which is how and others I'd know would use Public Transport in Auckland)? Or what if I cycle to the train station, catch the train, then walk at the other end?

How can we capture that information reliably and easily?

Do we then ask the user to rank each mode used for percentage of journey mode used for or treat all modes the same so assume that a 2 bus, 1 train journey is split evenly 1/3rd on bus 1, 1/3rd on train, 1/3rd on bus 2 even though buses may only cover 5km of a total 20km journey and I sped 50% of the time on the buses and the other 50% on the train?