So the survey has been through a pilot test. Now let’s face it, aside from the fact that it takes an average of 15minutes and 57seconds to answer the survey, the results as yet aren’t very interesting. For a start there aren’t enough people to really get results, and more importantly there aren’t enough people to really compare results.

. . . but let’s look at what there is anyway.

First off, the three pie charts you can see above. Respondents spent about half their travel time travelling in private vehicles, travelled the most distance in private vehicles and made 40% of their journeys in private vehicles. There’s a suggestion that private vehicles and trains are used for longer journeys and buses, cycling and walking are used for shorter journeys and used more often. Like I said, not particularly surprising, well maybe. After all I’m a PhD student in Trinity. When I ask people to take a survey, the people I’m asking are other postgraduate students and friends. Some in UCD, some in Trinity, some working, but mostly based in city centre Dublin and in their mid/late 20′s. They’re not a group of people that I would have expected to really rely on cars. Yet they do. Car Sharing may be a tougher sell than I thought.

Percentage People Using Each Mode

The graph on the left shows what percentage of people used each mode of transport at least once in the previous two weeks. More people drove than walked. Cycling and Taxis were about equally popular, though people who cycled travelled more often, further and spent longer on their bikes than those who took taxis. Still though, people were more like to take at least one journey by car, then to walk even as far as the local shop.

Time Spent Vs Happiness Levels

This graph is the last one I’m going to put up today. It actually doesn’t show anything, it’s more about what I hope it will show in the future. The survey includes a few questions that produce a happiness score out of 100. One Hundred is the happiest score, zero is the most miserable.

From the other information I worked out the times for three things. The first, the blue diamonds, is the amount of time (in minutes) spent travelling actively, the second, the red squares, is the total amount of time spent being physically active, the third is the total amount of time spent travelling.

Right now there’s no pattern, that’s probably because there are far too few respondents. Previous studies have found that people who car share engage in more active travel. No one has ever checked if they engage in less other physical activity as a result. Previous studies have found that people who are more active are happier. With more respondents I hope to be able to see if there’s a link between how you spend your travel time and how happy you are.

Which is why I need you to go and answer the survey!

On the other hand, if you’ve already answered the survey, keep up to date with new results by liking us on facebook: