Should Cycling UK hold it's own Census?

[cycle tramp]

I was a little underwhelmed by the 2021 Census questions which revolved around transport. From my memory there were only two questions, how many cars were in the household, and how I got to work....

..for a survey which cost the taxpayer close to 1 billion pounds, it's not exactly comprehensive..

..could Cycling UK hold it's own census, not only detailing where their members are, but what sort of cycling they di, why they do it, where they do it , how much they spend while doing it and where they spend the money...

[Jdsk]

What's currently known about those? Both for members and across the country?

Jonathan

[Pete Owens]

What's currently known about those? Both for members and across the country?

Jonathan

Well you can view the data from the 2011 census on this online map:
https://datashine.org.uk/#table=QS701EW&col=QS701EW0010&ramp=YlOrRd&layers=BTTT&zoom=9&lon=-2.0878&lat=53.6624
and see which places see lots of cycling - down to individual postcode level

And number of people living in car free households here
https://datashine.org.uk/#table=QS416EW&col=QS416EW0002&ramp=YlOrRd&layers=BTTT&zoom=10&lon=-2.5984&lat=53.5110

I can't really think of two more relevant questions to ask about transport. Our biggest transport problem (excessive car use) is mainly one of access to cars. The how do you get to work question is is a way to make direct comparisons between areas and over time of a journey that most adults do every day.

The main problem with doing the census in 2021 is that the circumstances of this year are particularly unusual so we won't be able make sensible comparisons or see trends. Asking about how we travel at a time when we are all ordered to stay at home and avoid public transport at all costs is not likely to yield useful results.

[thirdcrank]

I suspect that if cUK were to collect data on the membership's travel modes, the result might be dismissed by wider society on the lines of "Is the Pope a Catholic?" Unless it confirmed substantial motor vehicle use.

[Jdsk]

What's currently known about those? Both for members and across the country?

Jonathan

Well you can view the data from the 2011 census on this online map:
https://datashine.org.uk/#table=QS701EW&col=QS701EW0010&ramp=YlOrRd&layers=BTTT&zoom=9&lon=-2.0878&lat=53.6624
and see which places see lots of cycling - down to individual postcode level

And number of people living in car free households here
https://datashine.org.uk/#table=QS416EW&col=QS416EW0002&ramp=YlOrRd&layers=BTTT&zoom=10&lon=-2.5984&lat=53.5110

Thank you

Jonathan

[PH]

..could Cycling UK hold it's own census, not only detailing where their members are, but what sort of cycling they di, why they do it, where they do it , how much they spend while doing it and where they spend the money...

I agree there could be more travel detail in the Census. But no one else can hold one, the accuracy of the information is dependent on it being compulsory, anything else would just be a survey and the statistics from those is far more unreliable.

[Psamathe]

I suspect that if cUK were to collect data on the membership's travel modes, the result might be dismissed by wider society on the lines of "Is the Pope a Catholic?" Unless it confirmed substantial motor vehicle use.

I would agree. A very limited and self selecting sample unlikely to be recognised anywhere outside the organisation itself.

Of course it would tell the organisation about issues that are of concern to its members but my opinion is that CUK does what CUK wants these days rather than what the membership wants (members just provide funding rather than direction).

Ian

[pga]

I too was disappointed with the Census questions - how few there were and none relating to our main form of transport. The 1968 Census gave a wonderful picture of how cycling to work was still dominant in many areas. 27,000 cycled to work in Hull, yet the New Towns that had segregated cycle networks, eg Stevenage, showed lower that national average usage. If only our transport policy had protected this usage, as the Dutch did at the time, rather that base transport policy on the motor car, we would not be in the situation today where the majority of would be cyclists are deterred by the high level of motor traffic.

[atlas_shrugged]

Yes CyclingUK should hold its own census.

After the last census I stumbled upon the surprising fact that UK airfields have very good cycling figures. If true why could this be?

I concluded that if:
you had fit young men and women
forbidden to own a car in the area in question
the area gets to set their own rules (e.g. no driving on base, or students forbidden cars)
with tied accommodation
a large flat area

So questions to discover the secret of high cycling rates would be useful.

[cycle tramp]

What's currently known about those? Both for members and across the country?

Jonathan

Well you can view the data from the 2011 census on this online map:
https://datashine.org.uk/#table=QS701EW&col=QS701EW0010&ramp=YlOrRd&layers=BTTT&zoom=9&lon=-2.0878&lat=53.6624
and see which places see lots of cycling - down to individual postcode level

And number of people living in car free households here
https://datashine.org.uk/#table=QS416EW&col=QS416EW0002&ramp=YlOrRd&layers=BTTT&zoom=10&lon=-2.5984&lat=53.5110

I can't really think of two more relevant questions to ask about transport. Our biggest transport problem (excessive car use) is mainly one of access to cars. The how do you get to work question is is a way to make direct comparisons between areas and over time of a journey that most adults do every day.

That's a good point but such a question leaves out the unemployed and those who have retired. The question also leaves out what transport you use for shopping (because you may shop in a different place to where you work) and what transport you use for leisure (and if you don't think the last one is important, pre-covid19 both the m5 and the 303 in the west country used to grind to a halt every friday afternoon and evening, simply due to holiday makers making their way back up north). Then there's those people who cycle as a hobby - out to get fit and enjoy the countryside... they also use the roads as well.

Perhaps when I suggested Cycling uk hold it's own census, it could be more market research driven (to help cycle shops and cycling manufacturers), more health driven (what percentage of cuk membership are using cycling as a way to improve their mental health?) and perhaps even generate a vision of what cycle friendly transport infrastructure would look like and how it would perform. From a Cuk point of view, it would given generate a map of areas of high membership and low membership, which might form the basis of any future membership drive.

[Pete Owens]

It doesn't miss them it asks a simple unambiguous question with a straight forward answer so that direct comparisons can be made between areas. The journey to work is the most common trip that most people make every day and to which there is an unambiguous answer, which can be compared area by area. You could ask all sorts of detailed questions about other less frequent trips, but the travel to work question captures peoples primary mode of transport - and will be correlated to to the other sorts or journeys people make in that area and the journeys made by people who don't work.

[Psamathe]

Re: Cycling UK Census
I think the need for a Census depends on what information you are looking for. e.g. Why would Cycling UK need a Census to find "where their members are" - they already must have postcode plus down to house level.

I think the UK Census has specific aims and the questions must be targeted to collect info to meet those aims e.g. no question about how tall each person is as knowing such info is not useful.

So as to Cycling UK carrying out a Census, what information do they need to what purpose. There may easily be useful information but would it just be stored on a computer until it was out of date or would it be used for specific campaigns. As Cycling UK seems more campaign based these days I'd question if a general data collection Census would be of much use to further their (in practice) aims plus the respondents would be a very limited selection of the cycling community and any body disagreeing with the campaign would often have a very easy argument against their member survey (limited type of cyclist, not representative, etc.). My impression is that these days membership is more of "donation" that being what I think of a "member".

Ian

[Jdsk]

It doesn't miss them it asks a simple unambiguous question with a straight forward answer so that direct comparisons can be made between areas. The journey to work is the most common trip that most people make every day and to which there is an unambiguous answer, which can be compared area by area. You could ask all sorts of detailed questions about other less frequent trips, but the travel to work question captures peoples primary mode of transport - and will be correlated to to the other sorts or journeys people make in that area and the journeys made by people who don't work.

Yes.

And of course the design of the National Census has to make many compromises. Not least length against accuracy in completion.

Jonathan

[FatBat]

Whilst the Census does only include two questions related to travel and transport, the National Travel Survey is much more comprehensive. Of course, it cannot have the universal coverage that the census does - instead, a representative sample of the population have their travel patterns extensively interogated.

In normal circumstance, the survey is done annually. I'm not sure whether the 2020 survey was done - if it was, the results are not ready yet.

More information: https://www.gov.uk/government/collectio ... statistics