Figures don’t lie but liars figure

I rideshare and once per year, I’m required to complete a survey by the California Air Pollution Control Agency for one week of my ridesharing activity.

I just learned that the week to be sampled this year is October 27th to October 31st. Are you $@%&# kidding me!!! 20% of the data points will be drawn on one of the absolute most likely days of the year for someone that normally carpools to drive by themselves.

I find it completely unimaginable that the people at the APCA are so &%#$@ stupid that they don’t realize that they’re going to get a wildly artificially low rideshare participation rate…obviously, they’re intentionally trying to make the numbers look as bad as possible to satisfy some ulterior motive.

I’m so god damn sick of the habitual lying.

I don't get it.. why is that week the most likely week to drive alone?

And I do not understand why you have to fill out anything.. who cares how you get to work?

mad_machine wrote: I don't get it.. why is that week the most likely week to drive alone? And I do not understand why you have to fill out anything.. who cares how you get to work?

People tend to leave early when holidays fall on a workday…even more so when the holiday happens to fall on a Friday as Halloween did this year.

The parking lot at my work had approximately the normal number of cars in the morning, started to noticeably thin out after lunch and was nearly empty by 3:00.

Rideshare people were very likely to drive themselves last Friday because they wanted to leave early but at various times making it difficult to coordinate with their partners.

This is total B.S., I’m confident the date range was specifically picked to show a low rideshare participation rate.

Halloween is a holiday?

OK, so who benefits from low rideshare participation numbers?

And are you saying that if you car-pool, the law requires you to fill out a survey?

Is there a difference between the words "car-pool" and "rideshare?"

I find it hilarious when people use a small selection of data to further their vendetta when, the data, if it were studied in it's entirety would say something completely different.

With proper paraphrasing you can make any information say pretty much whatever you want, just check your ethics at the door.

Wait, are you implying that the gubmint might be obscuring the truth?

why does the government need to know anything about your daily commuting habits? don't all the cameras that you pass along the way tell them enough?

They were doing something like tha by us so they could so they could reduce running times and service. They would send out traffic checkers on the day after thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Years than they could show they didn't need so many buses because they were half empty and ahead of schedule. On paper they saved a bunch of money but in reality it cost them more since when things were normal everyone was late and payed OT. Government work at its finest.

ProDarwin wrote: Halloween is a holiday?

this …. when did halloween become a holiday ..

at my plant, we'd have a few (< 20 out of 500) dress up … and attendance was normal …. no one that I knew of left early (this data mined from 15 yrs with the company)

In reply to wbjones:

Are you serious? Or maybe most of your coworkers don't have kids. By 3pm, all of the parents here were gone.

JamesMcD wrote: OK, so who benefits from low rideshare participation numbers?

Is this an initial or early survey? Maybe the people looking to prove what a great job they're doing are picking a lowish week to set the baseline low. Then they'll pick a higher week later to prove how effective they've been.

Maybe it's someone in a political office who wants to cut funding to marketing campaigns for ridesharing programs. "We've spent all this money to promote this, and look how low numbers are!"

Or maybe it's a drone who's got a deadline on when they need to provide numbers for ride sharing, and they forgot until the last moment, and so are just grabbing the only week available to them before November to give them barely enough time to compile their report before the end of the year.

You still didn't answer why you are required to fill out a survey. Curious minds want to know.

as long as there is nobody looking over your shoulder when you do the survey.. lie and fill it out as if it were any other week you rideshare to work

mad_machine wrote: as long as there is nobody looking over your shoulder when you do the survey.. lie and fill it out as if it were any other week you rideshare to work

or fill out 250k of them

Halloween not being an official holiday but a celebrated one is what will throw the numbers off. Our rush hour Friday was nonexistent since people with kids stayed home or left early and older people stayed home to avoid the parade and other events but when someone gets around to using the numbers the 31st won't register as a special day.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: You still didn't answer why you are required to fill out a survey. Curious minds want to know.

I've gotten a few "Compulsory Surveys" from the feds.....I'll say one thing, no personal data was used on them and I was about as honest as our elected officials.

In reply to yamaha:

That's ok. Someone already knows the answer they want.

It is possible it could be part of a larger survey, in which case getting a sample of all weeks (even if they are atypically high or low) would be appropriate.

Ian F wrote: In reply to wbjones: Are you serious? Or maybe most of your coworkers don't have kids. By 3pm, all of the parents here were gone.

1st shift work let out at 3pm … and yeah, most of our workers had kids

I guess the question is, does it take that long to get into their costumes ? do they start going door to door late afternoon ?

I usually don't start seeing kids until after 5:30/6pm

Beer Baron wrote: Or maybe it's a drone who's got a deadline on when they need to provide numbers for ride sharing, and they forgot until the last moment, and so are just grabbing the only week available to them before November to give them barely enough time to compile their report before the end of the year.

That seems really likely. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Hi Mad Machine and GPS,

Basically, in California, all companies with more than a certain number of employees are required to promote and document ridesharing activity. The target has been set at 1.5 employees per vehicle and although no punitive action has been imposed on companies that fall short of the target yet, that is the stated plan.

ProDarwin wrote,

“Halloween is a holiday?”

I hope you’re not trying to tag me on semantics…I’m pretty annoyed right now, please don’t poke the bear.

Hi Beer Baron,

Exactly, it reeks of being something along those lines.

Aircooled wrote,

“Is it possible it could be part of a larger survey”

I wondered the same thing and checked with our Director of Facilities…the one other company he’s aware of which is in San Diego (~150 miles away) has the same sampling period so it appears to be state wide.

dculberson wrote:

Beer Baron wrote: Or maybe it's a drone who's got a deadline on when they need to provide numbers for ride sharing, and they forgot until the last moment, and so are just grabbing the only week available to them before November to give them barely enough time to compile their report before the end of the year.

That seems really likely. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

...sorry, I'm not buying the "Nothing to See Here"

So you are saying they are surveying EVERYONE participating at the company for that week?

Doh!

I always thought it would be nice to have a birthday on Halloween BTW. You would always have a well attended birthday party... they wouldn't stay long...

(so, happy b-day whomever happens to have that coincidence. )

dculberson wrote: That seems really likely. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

That goes out the window when politics come into play, usually both apply.