The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

Listen

Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary results for 2003

22/03/2005

Differences in how, why and when people travel, are shown in a Scottish Executive statistical bulletin, called Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary results for 2003, which is published today. Some of the main findings are listed below.

Car or van is the main mode of transport:

• About 70 per cent of adults' reported journeys were by car or van: 54 per cent as a driver, and 16 per cent as a passenger;
• 16 per cent of reported journeys were made on foot;
• 10 per cent were bus journeys, 2 per cent were taxi/minicab journeys and 1 per cent were by rail.

Commuting (25 per cent) and shopping (23 per cent) are the main purposes for which adults travel:

• Commuting was the purpose of 29 per cent of journeys by men, and 23 per cent of women's journeys;
• 26 per cent of journeys by women were for the purpose of shopping compared with 19 per cent of men's journeys;
• Self employed people made 14 per cent of their journeys in the course of business.

The level of car use varied with the purpose of travel:

• 60 per cent of commuting journeys were as a driver of a car or van, as were 69 per cent of escort journeys, and 77 per cent of business journeys;
• but only 30 per cent of journeys by adults going out to eat or drink, and 34 per cent of adults' journeys to and from education, were as a car/van driver;
• one third of all time spent driving on the road on a weekday was for the purpose of getting to or from work. 14 per cent of time spent on the road during the week was for journeys made during the course of work, and 16 per cent was for the purpose of shopping.

The modes of travel differed between the sexes, age-groups, annual net household income bands, and the type of area of residence:

• 63 per cent of journeys by men were as a driver of a car or van compared with 46 per cent of journeys by women;
• 22 per cent of journeys by women were as a passenger in a car or van in contrast to 9 per cent of journeys by men;
• 16 per cent of journeys by adults in the 16-19 age group, and 22 per cent of journeys by people aged 80+, were made by driving a car or van compared with 59-66 per cent of journeys by adults in the 30-59 age-groups;
• the percentage of journeys which were made as a driver of a car or van rose from 33 per cent for adults in households with an annual net income of up to £10,000 p.a. to 71 per cent for those in the "over £40,000" band;
• 43 per cent of journeys by adults who lived in large urban areas were made as the driver of a car/van, compared with 70-73 per cent for those who lived in rural areas.

Frequency and time of travel vary with age, journey purpose and main mode of travel:

• around 16-19 per cent of journeys by adults in the 16-59 age-groups started between 7am and 9:30am compared with 7-12 per cent for people aged 60+;
• about a third of journeys for the purposes of "commuting", "business" and "education" started between 7am and 9:30am compared with much smaller percentages for other purposes;
• 32 per cent of walking journeys, 27 per cent of cycling journeys, 23-29 per cent of car or van journeys and 45 per cent of taxi/minicab journeys took 5 to 10 minutes compared with 9 per cent of bus journeys;
• 23 per cent of business journeys were over 3 hours long compared with 2 per cent of all journeys.

Weekend travel was different:

• slightly fewer journeys on Sundays (12 per cent of journeys) compared with 13-16 per cent of journeys on each of the other days of the week;
• more shopping journeys on a Saturday (21 per cent of all shopping journeys compared with 12-16 per cent on each of the other days);
• higher percentages of journeys with purposes of "visiting friends and relatives" at the weekends.

The majority of journeys as the driver of a car or van were made unaccompanied:

• 60 per cent of car or van drivers' journeys were made unaccompanied. 27 per cent were made with two people in the car;
• 85 per cent of commuting journeys made as the driver of a car or van were unaccompanied.

Congestion on the roads was worst in the morning before 9 a.m., and in the early evening, but was seldom reported in rural areas:

• 24 per cent of car drivers' journeys which started between 8:00 and 8:59 a.m. on a weekday reportedly suffered delays due to congestion, as did 19-21 per cent of such journeys started between 7:00 and 7:59 a.m. and between 4:00 and 5:59 p.m.;
• Traffic congestion delayed only 2-3 per cent of car drivers' journeys made by people residing in "remote" small towns and "remote" rural areas, compared to 14 per cent of journeys by drivers living in large urban areas.

Public transport also suffered delays at peak times:

• 11 per cent of bus or rail journeys which started between 7:00 and 9:30 a.m. on a weekday suffered delays, as did 15 per cent of such journeys started between 4:30 and 6:29 p.m.;
• 46 per cent of bus journey delays were said to be caused by congestion on the roads, and 28 per cent by the bus arriving late.

Most journeys are made within the same council area or group of areas. The percentages travelling to another area are largest in and around Edinburgh and Glasgow. For example:

• 18 per cent of adults' journeys starting in the Lothians are into Edinburgh;
• only 52 per cent of people who travel to work in Glasgow live in Glasgow.

Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary results for 2003 costs £2, and may be purchased from the Blackwell's Bookshop, 53 South Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1YS.

The SHS involves interviews with about 15,500 households across Scotland each year. While the aim is to obtain a representative cross section, like any such survey the results may vary from year to year depending upon the composition of the sample.

is a National Statistics publication. It has been produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice and Release Practice Protocol.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about_ns/cop/default.asp

These statistics undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.