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Social Focus on Disability 2004

chapter eight: Transport

'Transport is one of our most vital public services, influencing our economy, our communities, our environment, our health and our quality of life. It touches all our lives: it connects people to jobs, family and friends, students to learning, customers to services, businesses to suppliers, products to markets, and Scotland to the world. A transport system that serves people and businesses well is fundamental to achieving our vision of a prosperous and socially-just Scotland.'

Scotland's transport future: the transport white paper - June 2004

The importance of a high quality transport system to the lives of the people of Scotland is emphasised in the opening paragraphs of the recent Transport White Paper. Improved transport links will be particularly helpful in closing the opportunity gaps which exist for many isolated and vulnerable groups in our communities, including disabled people. The White Paper continues:

'Transport provides access to employment and services and enables people to live full and active lives. People living in poverty, those in remote areas, older people and disabled people may face significant difficulties accessing transport, which limit their opportunities. Removing barriers to access and improving services can help to close the opportunity gap by providing better access to work, education and training, health and other public services, shopping and leisure facilities. The availability of transport that improves accessibility for people and businesses can also encourage economic activity in a particular area or community. Ferries, air services and roads can perform a lifeline role and are crucial to the social and economic prosperity of people living in remote parts of Scotland.

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) places a duty on transport providers to avoid discrimination against disabled people in respect of matters like timetables, booking facilities and waiting rooms. Regulations are also in place requiring all new land-based public transport to be accessible to disabled people. Increased numbers of low-floor buses, accessible taxis, and improved access to bus and rail stations and ferries are practical examples of what is being done by transport operators and local authorities. We established the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS) in 2002 to advise Scottish Ministers on transport needs of disabled people and how to improve accessibility of transport.'

Scotland's transport future: the transport white paper - June 2004

What are the experiences of disabled people in Scotland when using both public and private transport? This chapter presents information from the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) on the travel choices and experiences of both disabled and non-disabled people. The results show that:

• Disabled adults and those who have a long-term illness are less likely to hold a full driver's licence, compared to those without a disability or long-term illness.
• Households where at least one member has a disability or long-term illness are less likely to have access to a car.
• The most common method of travelling to work is driving a car or van. This applies to both the disabled and non-disabled population; however the proportion of non-disabled adults driving to work is higher.
• Just under half (47 per cent) of all adults with a disability do not use their local bus service more often due to health reasons.

Possession of full driver's licence and frequency of driving

In 2001 and 2002, the SHS estimates that 64 per cent of people aged 17 or over hold a full driving licence. There are significant differences between the disabled and non-disabled population: 70 per cent of people aged 17 or over without a disability hold a full driving licence, compared with 39 per cent of those with a disability.

Over two-thirds (70 per cent) of all people aged 17 or older who hold a full driver's licence drive every day but those without a disability are significantly more likely to drive every day (73 per cent) than people who have a disability (48 per cent).

There are 16 per cent of disabled adults and 13 per cent of adults with a long-term illness who never drive despite being in possession of a full driver's licence. The comparable figure for those without a disability is 4 per cent.

Differences also exist across the sexes; 76 per cent of men hold a licence compared with only 55 per cent of women. The difference between disabled men and women is greater with twice as many disabled men holding licences than disabled women (55 per cent compared to 27 per cent).

Table 8.3 shows that there are also differences across age groups. The proportion of people holding a full driver's licence increases between the ages of 17 to 34, peaks for those aged 35 to 44, and starts to decrease as people become older. This pattern also holds for disabled people and those with a long-term illness and they are less likely to hold a driving licence across all age groups.

Reasons for not driving

Results on why respondents do not drive are shown in Chart 8.1. The question is asked to those people who never drive but hold a full driving licence and also those who have never held a UK driving licence.

The most common reason given for never driving is 'never learnt to drive'. The proportion of disabled and non-disabled adults giving this answer is the same (32 per cent).

However, there are some interesting differences in the other categories between the disabled and non-disabled population. Eighteen per cent of disabled adults who do not drive do so because of health problems. In comparison, only 1 per cent of adults without a disability or long-term illness do not drive because of health problems. Just over 9 per cent of disabled adults do not drive because they are disabled. This is not listed as a reason for those adults without a disability or long-term illness.

Access to cars

There are variations between households in terms of whether or not they have access to cars, as shown in Table 8.4. Households where no members have a disability or a long-term illness are significantly more likely to have access to cars (71 per cent). This compares to 50 per cent of households with at least one member with a disability or long-term illness having access to a car.

Chapter Six of Social Focus on Urban Rural Scotland 2003 showed that there were considerable differences in access to cars between households in urban and rural areas. Chart 8.2 presents data on household access to cars by SHS urban/rural classification and by disability/ long-term illness.

Source: Scottish Household Survey

Sixty-nine per cent of disabled households in remote rural areas have access to a car compared with 40 per cent of disabled households in large urban areas. Chart 8.2 also clearly shows that households with no disabled members are more likely to have access to cars, across all area types.

Travel to work

The SHS asks adults who commute how they usually travel to work or to their place of study if they are still in full-time education. The results are shown in Chart 8.3.

The most common form of travel to work (or place of study) is driving a car or van. Over 50 per cent of adult commuters without a disability drive to work compared to 38 per cent of disabled adult commuters driving. As shown in Table 8.4, households with a disabled member are less likely to have access to cars therefore it is to be expected that we see a lower proportion of disabled commuters driving to work.

Similar proportions of disabled adult commuters (16 per cent) and non-disabled commuters (15 per cent) walk to work. This is also the case for those travelling to work as a passenger in a car or van: 9 per cent of disabled commuters compared with 10 per cent of commuters without a disability.

Travelling to work by bus is more common for disabled adult commuters with a quarter choosing this method of travel. In contrast, 16 per cent of commuters with a long-term illness and 14 per cent of adults without a disability take the bus to work.

Distance between home and work (or place of study)

The SHS collects information on the distance travelled by adult commuters between their home and place of work (or place of study). The distances are calculated using grid references from the respondent's home and work postcodes; they are estimated 'straight line' or 'as the crow flies' distances. This means that the results may not reflect the true distance travelled as a typical journey is unlikely to be in a straight line. Adults who work at home, those who work from home, and those who do not have a normal place of work, are excluded from the calculation of the distances.

The results show that 50 per cent of all adult commuters in Scotland work within 5 km of their place of work, or place of study if in full time education. There are no significant differences between the disabled population (49 per cent) and the non-disabled population (50 per cent). However, there are some variations when looking at those who travel within 10 km of home. Seventy-five per cent of commuters with a disability travel less than 10 km to work. This compares to 70 per cent of commuters without a disability or long-term illness.

Time taken to get to work (or place of study)

Most people in Scotland are able to get to work (or their place of study) within one hour. There are no significant differences between disabled adult commuters and commuters without a disability in terms of their travelling times to work. The results from the SHS show that 95 per cent of commuters with a disability or long-term illness, and 96 per cent of non-disabled commuters live within one hour of their workplace. Over half of commuters with a disability or long-term illness, and of non-disabled commuters, live within 20 minutes travelling time of their workplace (56 per cent for both groups).

The time taken to get to work (or place of study) excludes those who work at home, but will include some people who work from home, or who do not have a normal place of work, and gave details of a journey to or from work.

Commuters who do not use public transport

Information is available from the SHS on whether those people who drive to work or to their place of study, or go as a passenger within a car or van could instead use public transport. Just under half of these adult commuters (49 per cent) stated that they could use public transport to travel to their work or place of study. Disabled commuters are slightly less likely to be able to use public transport (45 per cent) than those without a disability (49 per cent).

Time taken to walk to nearest bus stop

Eighty-five per cent of Scottish households live within 6 minutes walking distance of a bus stop. The results shown in Table 8.5 show only small differences between disabled ²² and non-disabled ²³ households in terms of how long it would take the SHS interviewer to walk to the nearest bus stop.

Frequency of using bus service

In 2002, the SHS asked adults how often they used their local bus service in the past month, if at all.

Around 60 per cent of adults with or without a disability have never used their local bus service in the past month.

Perceptions of bus service

Those people who responded that they had used a bus service in the last month were then asked about their perceptions of the service. Table 8.7 shows that the perceptions of the disabled and non-disabled populations are broadly similar, with only small differences between the disabled and non-disabled population. Overall the perceptions of adults using bus services are very positive - in almost all cases, over 70 per cent of those surveyed agreed with the statements. One small, but notable, difference was between the proportions of people agreeing with the statement 'It's easy changing from buses to other forms of transport'; 66 per cent of disabled adults agreed with this compared to 71 per cent of non-disabled people.

The SHS also asks those adults who have used buses less than once a week in the past month, why they did not use buses more often. Chart 8.4 shows that there are significant differences between the disabled and non-disabled population. Just under half (47 per cent) of all adults with a disability do not use their local bus service more often due to health reasons. This compares to 28 per cent of adults with a long-term illness but no disability, and 2 per cent of other adults. Disabled adults are also more likely not to use buses because of the difficulties involved in access (on/off steps); 17 per cent give this reason, compared to 5 per cent of those with a long-term illness but no disability, and 1 per cent of other adults.

Adults without a disability or long-term illness prefer to use their cars rather than buses (44 per cent). Just under a third (30 per cent) consider buses to be inconvenient.

Frequency of using train service

The SHS also collects information on how often adults have used a train service in the past month. The results are shown in Table 8.8:

Most adults with a disability have never used a train service during the past month (93 per cent). The comparable figure for adults without a disability or long-term illness is 84 per cent.

Comparing the results of Table 8.6 and 8.8 it is evident that adults in Scotland are more likely to use buses rather than trains; 41 per cent have used buses and 14 per cent have used trains in the past month.

The SHS does not collect any information on why people have not used a train service more often.

Perceptions of train service

Table 8.9 provides information on adults' perceptions of train services.

There are differences between disabled adults and adults without a disability in terms of how they view train services. For example, 83 per cent of adults with a disability consider the train service to be stable and not regularly changing. In comparison, 70 per cent of adults without a disability or long-term illness take this view. However, care should be taken when making any comparisons since the numbers involved are quite small.

References

Household Transport in 2002: some Scottish Household Survey results (annual, latest edition: January 2004)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00316-00.asp

Scottish Household Survey
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/SR/CRU-SocInc/00016002/SHShome.aspx

Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary results for 2002 (annual, latest edition: May 2004)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00339-00.asp

Scotland's transport future, the transport white paper - June 2004
http://www.scottishexecutive.gov.uk/library5/transport/stfwp-00.asp

Scottish Transport Statistics No 22, 2003 Edition (annual, latest edition: August 2003)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00281-00.asp

Social Focus on Urban Rural Scotland 2003
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00257-00.asp

Transport across Scotland in 2001 and 2002: some Scottish Household Survey results for parts of Scotland (biennial, latest edition: February 2004)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00319-00.asp

The latest editions of all Scottish Executive Transport Statistics publications can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/transtat/latest

Contacts

Telephone contact points for further information relating to Chapter 8, Transport:

Scottish Executive

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