Thanks for your participation - we had a whopping 8376 responses! I was assuming we'd get about a 10% response rate, so that indicates that we may have more than 80,000 riders on the World's Largest Bus. Now I'll have to take a survey to find out what percent really took the survey! :-)

Our thanks to Beach Tech who processed the survey. Beach Tech provides EMAIL and WWW form based survey services, so if you ever need an online survey, visit them on the Web at http://www.beachtech.com . The full results in glorious tabular form are available on the Web at http://csbh.mhv.net/~bobrankin/tourbus/results.htm for your viewing pleasure, but if you prefer an "executive summary" with a twist, read on.

(Oh, if you did not already respond to the survey it's not too late. Visit the results page and find the link to take the survey.) So without further ado (what *is* ado anyway?) here are the results.

1. In what country do you receive TOURBUS?

   USA: 64% Canada: 7% Great Britain: 6% Australia: 3% Germany: 2% The other 18% either didn't know where they lived or fell into the one percent or less categories. Hey, where is France?

2. How long have you been using the Internet?

   This was a bit of a surprise. The results showed that 57% of TOURBUS riders have been surfing for two years or more. Just 23% qualify as newbies (less than a year online) and 20% have a year's worth of sand in their bathing suits.

3. A) What type of Internet connection do you have? (Modem Speed)

   Technology marches on - only 3% reported (or admitted) having a 2400 bps modem, and 4% weighed in at 9600. About a third have 14.4's, another 42% have 28.8's and 19% are surfing at higher speeds (presumably while the boss is not looking).

   Users in Germany and Australia seem to cruise the infobahn just a little faster than those in the USA, but there is equality between the sexes.

   B) What type of Internet connection do you have? (Service Provider)

   Over 80% responded that they see the Web in living color. Text only users (BBS or shell account) made up 6% and worldwide 11% have only e-mail access.

   The number of "e-mail only" users outside the U.S. averages well over 20% in most other places, though.

4. Describe your primary Internet usage.

   Hey... e-mail really is the killer app! 44% say e-mail is their primary online activity, and just 22% described Web surfing as their cyberspace raison d'etre. Research, business and education focused users each claimed another 10% of the total.

5. Are you male or female?

   The answer here was a resounding "YES", which is comforting. But 5% of Argentinians were not sure. Worldwide, it looks like we have 68% Joe and 32% Jane.

   In the USA it's about 60/40 but Germany and the Netherlands have over 90% male users. Italy came in at 99% male, so if you're online to meet Italian women, you'd better sell the modem and use that money for airfare instead.

6. What is your age?

   If you're a man, you are 42. And all women in cyberspace are 50 years old, statistically speaking. If you want to live a good life, move to Argentina -- their average age came out to 102. ?!

   We don't have a breakdown by age group, but the worldwide average of 44 years tells me there are a goodly number of seniors online.

7. Level of education?

   We're a well educated group. 42% of netizens have a college education, and 46% claim advanced degrees. Gee, I should've asked how many people are furthering their education with online courses...

8. TOURBUS will always be free. But would you ever pay to receive information by e-mail that was relevant to your personal or business interests?

   A surprising 41% said they would pay for quality information delivered electronically. Looks like now is the time to hang your shingle in cyberspace.

*---BUY IT ONLINE ---------------(  http://www.BuyItOnline.com  )---*
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See you next time! -- Bob