The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is seeking feedback on numerous topics for possible inclusion in the 2016 Australian population census. For any topic to make the census there needs to strong user support and justification. One such topic up for consideration is mode of travel to educational institution.
Currently the census includes the topic mode of travel to work. The data collected via the census on mode of travel to work is widely used at the small area level for transport planning. It complements the data collected from the Workplace address/Journey to Work topic. They identify how people travelled to work on Census day (e.g. train, bus, car driver, car passenger and bicycle).
With a significant proportion of the community now engaging in education and likely to engage more so in the future plus the growing need to address transportation issues and health issues, expanding our understanding of how people travel to education is important.
The greater the understanding of how people utilise the various forms of transport the better we can address the demands and needs of the community.
For the topic mode of travel to educational institution to be included in the 2016 Australian census submissions need to be made to argue the case. The ABS has a submission form which can be completed online. The deadline for submissions is May 31, 2013.
I have put a submission in myself and the BIcycle Transport Alliance will also put one but hopefully if more of us do so, we may get an additional question added to the Census. In my blog posting I listed the questions (these are not available until you actually progress through the form) which may help in preparing a submission in advance.
Andrew
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