I’ve got a number of axes to grind with UT’s Parking and Transportation Services, and at the top of the list is how it gives short shrift to cycling as a transportation option, but pours money into private-automobile services. Today PTS sent out a survey to assess student transportation needs, and it has many flaws, including almost complete neglect of cyclist needs.

After an initial classification question, the second question asks, “What is your primary mode of transportation to campus?” and offers “drive,” “bus,” “walk,” “carpool,” and “vanpool” as explicit options. Surely cycling is a more popular way to get to campus than a vanpool, and I wasn’t even aware that Austin offered vanpool services. This presents a coding problem for PTS as well, since it will under-represent students who cycle, since a number of responses like, “bike,” “bicycle,” “cycling,” or, hell, “fahrrad,” would all mean the same thing, and I doubt PTS is going to invest time into coding these other responses.

Since I’ve got some graduate-level training in survey design, I thought I would point out some other flaws in this survey. Questions four and five ask the respondent what times he or she usually arrive and leave campus. The possible responses are structured in one-hour intervals, like “8am-9am.” This may make sense for people who have rigid report times, but broader intervals would make more sense for professors and grad students who have flexible grad students, and nearly all undergrads get to campus just in time for their first class. There are two problems here: it doesn’t address the needs of two large populations on campus, students and faculty, and I don’t see how this question can provide good data with such narrow intervals, unless they’re only interested in employees who need to be at their desk exactly at 8:30.

The survey is clearly aimed at motorists who operate private vehicles alone, which I think reflects a profound bias in PTS, and this bias needs to be addressed.