Census excuse for not including motorcycles in means of transport

[cheshirecat]

Thank you for your online enquiry regarding the 2018 Census.
Motorbikes and scooters were excluded from the census, because these forms of transport have some limitations in the use that can be made of them. For example, motorbikes and scooters are not suitable transport for small children, or for elderly people.
Please do not hesitate to contact us, either via the online General Enquiries form or on the phone number below, if we can be of further assistance.
Kind regards
Ray
Customer Service Specialist
Toll free helpline 0800 CENSUS (0800 236 787 (tel:0800%20236%20787))
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[BMWST?]

and what have those reasons have to do with why a motorcycle or scooter cant be used as a method to go to work and pay some taxes?

[AllanB]

Been excluded for decades. Pissed me off for decades.

On the old paper sheets I used to write MOTORCYCLE

If fact I had many a rant on the old sheets. No one ever called me up to discuss .... :no:


Just put down 'Jedi' for religion each time - apparently it annoys them a lot.

[HEsch]

The sad thing was, counted or not, I didn't have one on census night.

But, their exclusion must skew numbers of vehicles, and riders, etc.

[Berries]

Pretty sure power cycles and e-bikes will be on the list next time due to complaints received.

Have you retired recently and got lots of time on your hands?

[jellywrestler]

in the days of paper census i'd simple get scissors and cut the questions i didn't like out, can't answer them then

[Swoop]

It is perplexing as to what actual information the retarded cunts in Wellytown got from this "census".

Lacking in everything apart from what they need to force-feed the population in a specific direction...

[Voltaire]

Census forms are not interested in hobbies.:innocent:

[jasonu]

I never filled out a census and never heard anything about it from the authorities.

[Akzle]

do they list pogo-sticks and unicycles?

does it matter?

don't fill out forms for teh government. life becomes much easier.

[eldog]

Should send that ignorant person who replied to the OP, photos of people riding on bikes in Thailand or similar countries. Even Rome has a large scooter riding population.....

[Grumph]

Should send that ignorant person who replied to the OP, photos of people riding on bikes in Thailand or similar countries. Even Rome has a large scooter riding population.....

As a small child I was very rarely transported by car. Mostly on the back of Mum's bike or the old man's motorcycle.
As an OAP, I find a motorcycle would still suit my requirements.

It's wilful, deliberate marginalisation of a population sector.

As was the on-line aspect. No number received in the post by census day. When after requesting it, it turned up, then a further wait for paper forms.

From what I've been told, if you didn't have a street address that a delivery could be made to, no number. They wouldn't do the initial send out to PO Boxes apparently.

Bloody useless.

[Berries]

Should send that ignorant person who replied to the OP, photos of people riding on bikes in Thailand or similar countries.
We'll put elephants on the list while we are at it.

[eldog]

We'll put elephants on the list while we are at it.

why not there’s plenty in Auckland.

tutuks are good too.

great diversions to be had on those unsuspecting tourists, ask for point B, get taken to points c, d, e, f, g..... z then finally B.
after a back handler from the local .....

[MarkH]

"Motorbikes and scooters were excluded from the census, because these forms of transport have some limitations in the use that can be made of them."

I don't geddit!
Surely all vehicles have some limitations in the use that can be made of them. Don't small cars have limitations on their ability to transport a dozen people or a large fridge/freezer?
It would seem logical to list all the most common types of vehicles and then have the option of choosing 'other' and writing in what you use.

Until 7 months ago I used a motorcycle as my primary form of transport, my only alternative was my other motorcycle. I didn't have small children or elderly people to transport so I didn't really experience any limitations to using a motorcycle as my only form of transport. When I lived in Auckland, I used a big scooter to get around the city visiting customers and also to do the weeks shopping (under the seat storage was huge - 62L + Givi topbox) and it worked so well that I sold my car (hated driving a car in Auckland anyway). Anything too big to transport by motorcycle wasn't transported by me - couriers don't charge a lot to move something within the city.

[Oakie]

I am incensed! Never has my 'in' been so 'censed' in fact

KB regulars may know I'm not given to great shows of displeasure ... but that response is bollocks! I saw a young kid being dropped at school yesterday on a Repsol liveried Honda and plenty of school age yoofs use scooters. Also plenty of 70 year olds and even 80s toodlng around on their two wheels of happiness too.

God dammit ... all the religions listed there have limitations. Houses have limitations. My income has limitations. The only thing not limited is the stupidity of that answer.

Surely the response to Mr Census would be that bike are still AVAILABLE to be used by all people and that is exactly the point of a census ... to find out who uses what.

Oakie walks away ... still steaming ... kicks the cat ... breaks his own leg

[Grumph]

The official response is also of course ageist....

You sad Auckland dwellers should contemplate for a moment, just how little congestion on the roads there'd be if everyone now using a car to get to work, instead took a motorcycle...

But motorcycles as transport don't feature in any forward projections. Madness.

[Voltaire]

The official response is also of course ageist....

You sad Auckland dwellers should contemplate for a moment, just how little congestion on the roads there'd be if everyone now using a car to get to work, instead took a motorcycle...

But motorcycles as transport don't feature in any forward projections. Madness.

Actually, I don't want car drivers riding motorcycle, they can barely drive cars.

Also I like seeing them lined up on the way to work whist I whisk down the bus lanes.

If I need to wear the suit I can take the train, never drive the car into the city any more although this stretches my commute from 30 mins to

over an hour.

[Swoop]

You sad Auckland dwellers should contemplate for a moment, just how little congestion on the roads there'd be if everyone now using a car to get to work, instead took a motorcycle...

But motorcycles as transport don't feature in any forward projections.
An intelligent census question would ask: How do you commute to work? Car, motorcycle, scooter, bicycle, bus, train, ferry, other public transport, walking?

That would provide planners in each city/town a far better idea.

[Akzle]

I am incensed! Never has my 'in' been so 'censed' in fact

KB regulars may know I'm not given to great shows of displeasure ... but that response is bollocks! I saw a young kid being dropped at school yesterday on a Repsol liveried Honda and plenty of school age yoofs use scooters. Also plenty of 70 year olds and even 80s toodlng around on their two wheels of happiness too.

God dammit ... all the religions listed there have limitations. Houses have limitations. My income has limitations. The only thing not limited is the stupidity of that answer.

Surely the response to Mr Census would be that bike are still AVAILABLE to be used by all people and that is exactly the point of a census ... to find out who uses what.

Oakie walks away ... still steaming ... kicks the cat ... breaks his own leg

rbcifgip.

some cat you have

[GazzaH]

An intelligent census question would ask: How do you commute to work? Car, motorcycle, scooter, bicycle, bus, train, ferry, other public transport, walking?

I work at home/live at work. How do I answer your question? I don't commute. I bet a lot of people don't commute. There are some, even here on KB, who peek out from behind the curtains before deciding. There may be some who use skateboards. And are coaches buses? Are trams buses or trains? ...

Fact is, it's fiendishly difficult (and costly) to design sensible, unbiased, statistically valid survey questions that are also sufficiently readable and understandable to be answered by the general population with a wide range of cognitive abilities and language skills ... but still that's only part of the issue.

The key bit we're missing is further back in the process, when the government decided what information it needs. Leading into that was presumably an honest (=non-political) assessment of the information already available, identifying gaps and other issues with the information, and an equally honest analysis of various policies and strategic options under consideration, taking account of global and regional trends.

[Oakie]

rbcifgip. some cat you have

Yep. Fat prick weighs 7 kilos. He is a solid unit.

Actually I got that idea from a guy I used to work with. He was working on his car when his dog grabbed a spanner or something and ran away with it. He chased the dog and kicked it and did break his own leg.

[Woodman]

Maybe they aren't that interested in how many motorbikes there are? i know I'm not.

[Berries]

Me neither.

If they wanted to know they could count them

[FJRider]

The key bit we're missing is further back in the process, when the government decided what information it needs. Leading into that was presumably an honest (=non-political) assessment of the information already available, identifying gaps and other issues with the information, and an equally honest analysis of various policies and strategic options under consideration, taking account of global and regional trends.

The census of old ... used to be the basis of determining where people lived so as to accurately place electoral boundaries. Town planing wanted to know about sports/hobbies you were involved in ... and your preferred means of transport to work to determine sufficient parking availability etc etc ...

Times change ... but the powers that be ... and the tiny minds they have ... have trouble keeping up with modern lifestyles. They want a physical address of where you will be on census night. Sounds easy on paper ... but some long distance truckies could be anywhere within quite a few hundred km's. Crews on boats and ships are the same (to name but a few). Even my "address" on census night does not have mail delivery ... street or road address ... so I cant list it ... or state where I am/was. I have a home address ... but they don't want that if I wasn't going to be home census night.
A growing number only have post box mail delivery ... and even no street/road address.

To get the right answers ... they need the right questions. Until the "Powers that be" understand those situations actually do exist ... no accurate census can be achieved. But it's somehow OUR fault if we don't answer the questions properly and accurately. And add threats of prosecution if we don't.

[Voltaire]

Sadly the Powers that Be miss out on the great minds as they are too busy on productive things like Kiwi Biker.:laugh:

[Grumph]

Sadly the Powers that Be miss out on the great minds as they are too busy on productive things like Kiwi Biker.:laugh:

Most accurate thing said on this thread.....

But yeah, I've seena few census and this was the one qualifying as a dog.

[cheshirecat]

We have received your query about the motorcycles and the census.

As I’m sure you appreciate the census is somewhat limited in what we can collect due to the scale of the survey. In order to use the unique opportunity to gather as much data as possible, sometimes difficult decisions need to be made in order to get the best data for a number of different information needs.

The content collected in the census forms was informed by the content development process for the 2018 Census. This included a public consultation and submission process in 2015, informed by the Preliminary view of 2018 Census content (http://archive.stats.govt.nz/Census/2018-census/prelim-content/preface.aspx). This was followed by an extensive testing programme, informing the final content decisions published within the 2018 Census report on final content (https://www.stats.govt.nz/reports/2018-census-report-on-final-content).

As discussed in the reports, potential census content is assessed across a variety of criteria including information need, and the suitability of information to be collected in a self-completed questionnaire forms as used in the census.

In regards to our initial reply about motorcycles not being a suitable form of transport for many elderly people and children, while there are always going to be exceptions to the rule, most young children are not capable of riding pillion on motorbikes.

Because of the vast number of ways that census data is used it is important that categories are classified in a way as not to skew the data, and therefore how the data is interpreted and used. If we were to include motorbikes in the cars category this can skew any inferences about, for example, the number of car and van sized parking spaces needed in a city.

In regards to your query about the inclusion of a separate category for bicycles and not for motorcycles, as a statistical agency we rely heavily on how people have responded to questions in previous censuses as well as consultation with key stakeholders and the public to determine content and layout of the questionnaire for each census. Based on our results from the 2013 Census, only 1.31 percent of respondents answered that they had travelled to work by motorbike on census day. Based on this low response as well as the need to identify motor vehicles, modes of public transport and active transport, motorbikes were included in the ‘other’ response option for the 2018 Census.

[Swoop]

... census content is assessed across a variety of criteria including information need...

To paraphrase all that: "you bastards will sway the data from the end goal we intend to achieve". There's nothing like knowing what the outcome must be, and only asking the questions which will achieve that goal.

Soon we will see bureaucrats stating "no more motorcycle parking in cities because data indicates motorcycling isn't a form of viable transport (Source: Statistics NZ '18 census)"...

[cc rider]

If they wanted to know they could count themSend them to the race track to count bikes :scooter: :bash:

[Voltaire]

I get the Public having a say, but whats a steakholder got to do with it?

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