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ISBN 0 7559 3976 x
Published April 2005

A National Statistics publication

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1. Main Points

1.1 The National Travel Survey results for the two year period 2002/2003 suggest that an average Scottish resident travelled around 6,670 miles per year (or about 18 miles per day) within Great Britain. This is much more than twenty or thirty years earlier: since 1985/86, this average has risen by more than 2,000 miles (43%); and there has been an increase of nearly 2,500 miles (59%) since 1975/76. The cause is not so much people travelling more often (the average number of trips per person per year has risen by only 12% since 1975/76) as people going further when they do travel (the average length of a trip was 43% higher in 2002/2003 than in 1975/76).

1.2 The average time spent travelling per person increased by 20% from 289 hours per year (or 48 minutes per day) in 1975/76 to 346 hours per year (57 minutes per day) in 2002/2003.

1.3 Cars alone accounted for 86% of the increase since 1975/76 in the average distance travelled per person per year.

1.4 In 2002/2003, cars alone accounted for about three quarters (74%: over 4,900 miles) of the total distance travelled per person. No other mode of travel accounted for more than 10%: "local bus" had the next highest share (5%: 360 miles), followed by "surface rail" (4%: 290 miles).

1.5 Between 1985/86 and 2002/2003, there were large increases in the average numbers of trips per person made as a car driver (up 65%) or as a car passenger (up 33%), and large falls for walking (down 33%) and local bus (down 31%).

1.6 In 2002/2003 "other personal business…" (e.g. visits to a doctor, library or church) was the most frequent purpose of travel accounting for 20% of the average of 991 trips per person per year. Shopping and commuting or business each accounted for 19% of trips and visiting friends (at home or elsewhere) accounted for 16% of trips.

1.7 Between 1985/86 and 2002/2003, the average distance travelled per person rose by 67% for shopping trips, by 81% for other personal business, by 26% for commuting and by 60% for holidays and day trips.

1.8 Men made only 1% more trips each, on average, than women, but travelled, on average, 30% further. "Car driver" was the main mode of travel for men, accounting for 66% of the distance they covered in 2002/2003, compared with only 42% of the distance travelled by women. Women travelled further than men as car passengers and by local bus. Commuting/business was the purpose of 27% of trips by men but only 19% for women; shopping accounted for 24% of trips by women but only 21% for men.

1.9 In 2002/2003, people in the highest quintile income group averaged 21% more than the overall average number of trips per person per year; people in the lowest quintile income group averaged 14% fewer trips than the overall average.

1.10 People in households with access to cars averaged 8% more than the overall average number of trips per person per year; people in households without a car averaged 24% fewer trips than the overall average.

2 Background

2.1 This bulletin provides information from the National Travel Survey ( NTS) about travel within Great Britain ( GB) by Scottish residents. The NTS covers a sample of households across GB, and is conducted on behalf of the Department for Transport (DfT). The results of the NTS for GB as a whole appear each year in DfT publications, which include some figures for Scotland alongside statistics for other parts of GB. This bulletin concentrates upon the NTS statistics of travel by Scottish residents. We gratefully acknowledge the help of DfT Transport Statistics staff, who provided the statistics for this bulletin.

2.2 The NTS collects information about all kinds of personal travel for which the main reason for the trip is for the traveller to reach the destination. The survey therefore covers travel for private purposes, for work, and for education. Commuting is included. Trips in the course of work are also included if they fulfil the requirement that the main reason for the trip is for the traveller to reach the destination. However, travel in the course of work to convey passengers or to deliver goods is excluded (eg travel at work by bus drivers, lorry drivers and postmen). Notes on the NTS's coverage and definitions appear in Section 4.3.

2.3 The NTS is not designed to produce annual figures for Scotland: up to the end of 2001, each year's sample included only 300 or so Scottish households; from 2002, the sample has an average of about 750 Scottish households per year. Therefore the samples for a number of years had to be combined in order to produce Scottish results, and even they will be subject to sampling variability. This may lead to the NTS producing unreliable results for some relatively infrequent types of travel, because they are based upon a small number of trips in the sample, and so may be subject to large percentage sampling errors. For this reason, some tables show the numbers of people in the sample, and italics identify figures which are based upon fewer than 300 trips in the sample (and so could be affected by particularly high percentage sampling errors).

2.4 The main change in this edition is the inclusion of ten new tables:

• Table I1 Hours travelled per person per year, by purpose
• Table I2 Average duration of trip, by purpose
• Table J Trips per person per year, by purpose and number of cars available to the household
• Table S2 Trips per person per year by main mode and number of cars available to the household
• Table V1 Trips per person per year by household size and number of cars available to the household
• Table V2 Person trips per household per year by household composition
• Table W Person trips per household per year by main mode and number of cars available to the household
• Table X Person trips per household per year by purpose and number of cars available to the household
• Table Y Trips per adult (16+) per year by purpose and number of cars available to the household
• Table Z Trips per adult (16+) per year by type of area and number of cars available to the household

3. Commentary

3.1 Basic travel statistics( Table A; Charts 1, 2)

3.1.1 The National Travel Survey results for 2002/2003 suggest that an average Scottish resident travelled around 6,670 miles per year (or about 18 miles per day) within Great Britain. Table A shows that this is much more than twenty or thirty years earlier: since 1975/76, this average has risen by nearly 2,500 miles (59%), with an increase of just over 2,000 miles (43%) since 1985/86. Chart 1 illustrates this, and shows that cars alone account for most of the distance travelled (in 2002/2003, over 4,900 miles: 74% of the total), and for most of the increase in the distance travelled (with a rise of over 2,100 miles: 86% of the overall increase since 1975/76). Chart 1 also shows some apparent period-to-period changes of a few hundred miles in the average distance travelled per person per year. These could be due to sampling variability, as the estimate for (say) 1998/2000 has a 95% confidence range of +/- 583 miles - see Section 4.2.4.

3.1.2 There was less rapid growth in the number of trips made per person, which rose by 12% from an average of just under 900 per year (or 2.4 per day) in 1975/76 to nearly 1,000 per year (2.7 per day) in 2002/2003. The principal cause of the increase in the average distance travelled was a rise of 43% in the average length of a trip, from 4.7 miles in 1975/76 to 6.7 miles in 2002/2003. Over the same period, the per capita average time spent travelling increased by 20% from 289 hours per year (or 48 minutes per day) to 346 hours per year (57 minutes per day). In consequence, throughout the period, the average duration of a trip did not change much, remaining around 20 minutes, while the average speed increased from under 15 miles per hour to just over 19 miles per hour.

3.1.3 The main reasons for the increase in travel are that there are more cars, and more people able to drive them. Since 1975/76 the number of cars and other vehicles available (per 100 Scottish households) has risen by 83%, from 52 to 95 vehicles per 100 households (at a time of falling household sizes). At the same time, the percentage of the adult population qualified to drive them has increased: in 2002/2003, about 76% of men and 58% of women aged 17 or over held a full car driving licence - considerably more than the 66% of men and 24% of women in 1975/76. Chart 2 illustrates how the rate of growth was much higher for women than for men, and the potential for further increases is much greater for women than for men. It should also be noted that the percentages of the adult population who were qualified to drive in 2002/2003 were a little lower in Scotland (76% of men and 58% of women aged 17 or over) than in Great Britain as a whole (81% of men and 61% of women).

3.1.4 Finally, it would appear that the average annual mileage per car has not changed much, remaining at around 10,000 miles per year since 1985/86 (no corresponding figure is available for 1975/76).

3.2 Average distance travelled per person per year by mode of travel( Table B)

3.2.1 When the 2002/2003 average of almost 6,670 miles travelled per person per year is broken down between the different modes of travel in Table B, it is seen that almost half the total distance (47%: over 3,150 miles) was travelled as the driver of a car or a van or a lorry. (The base for all the "per person" averages is the whole population, including non-drivers: the average distance travelled as a driver would be much higher for those who can drive.) The NTS's normal convention is to include vans and lorries with cars when reporting the results. Table B shows that only a small percentage of personal travel is by van or lorry. Henceforth, all references to "car" should be taken as also including vans and lorries. A further 30% (just over 2,000 miles) was travelled as a passenger in a car. So, cars accounted for over three quarters of the total distance travelled per person. No other mode of travel accounted for more than 10%: "local bus" had the next highest share with just over 5% (356 miles) "other public transport" (which includes air) just under 5% (324 miles) "surface rail" accounted for 4% (286 miles). Walking accounted for only 3% (212 miles), and cycling for only 0.4% (27 miles per person per year).

3.2.2 Cars accounted for 96% of the increase of just over 2,000 miles since 1985/86 in the average distance travelled per person per year. The average distance travelled per person as a driver rose by over 1,200 miles, and as a passenger in a car rose by over 700 miles. As a result, the car's share of the total distance travelled rose from 70% to 78%. Over the same period, there were falls in the average distances walked (from 286 miles to 212 miles). At the same time there was rapid growth in "other public transport", which includes air, which rose from about 50 miles to a few hundred miles - the figure varies somewhat between the periods, presumably due to sampling variability (the inclusion, by chance, of more users of modes such as air - or of people who make greater use of those modes - in the sample in some years than in other years). There was little overall change for the other modes of travel: some of the apparent changes, such as the fluctuations in the figures for rail, could be due to sampling variability rather than any real change in travel patterns (over the same period, total Scottish rail passenger numbers have been much more stable than the NTS estimates).

3.3 Trips per person per year, Average distance travelled per person per year, and Average length of trip - all by main mode of travel(Tables C, D, E; Charts 3,4)

3.3.1 In the case of a trip with more than one stage (eg by bus to a railway station, then by train to - say - Manchester), Table B's figures are based upon counting separately the distance for each mode of travel used for each stage of the trip. However, the other analyses of "mode" in this bulletin use the main mode of travel for the trip as a whole (in the example given, this would be 'rail'). Hence, the distances shown for each mode of travel in Table B may differ slightly from those shown for each main mode of travel in Table D and some other tables. In addition, it should be noted that (for reasons given in paragraph 4.2.5) the modes that are shown may differ between tables: for example, "private hire bus" and "non-local bus" appear as separate modes of travel in Table B but are included in the "other..." categories in other tables.

3.3.2 In 2002/2003, on average, 991 trips were made per person per year ( Table C). Cars were the main mode of travel for over half of them (59%), with 38% (376) made as a driver and 21% (207) made as a passenger. The car's 59% share of the number of trips is less than its 77% share of the distance travelled ( Table D) because many short trips are made by foot: the average of 281 walking trips per person per year represents 28% of all trips ( Table C), but walking only accounts for 3% of the distance travelled ( Table D) - a difference that can be seen clearly when Chart 3 and Chart 4 are compared.

3.3.3 Table C shows that the overall average number of trips made per person per year did not change greatly between 1985/86 and 2002/2003, rising only by 2%. (Apparent period-to-period changes of a few percent may be due to sampling variability - see Section 4.2.4) However, there were large increases in the average numbers of trips per person made mainly by car, with 'driver' trips rising by 65% and 'passenger' trips up by 33%. At the same time, the average numbers of trips per person made mainly by foot or by local bus fell, by 33% and 31% respectively.

3.3.4 The average distances travelled per person per year by main mode of travel are shown in Table D. The main trends are very similar to those shown in Table B and described in section 3.2: there are large rises for 'car driver' and 'car passenger', and a large fall for 'walk'. The fall for 'local bus' (17%) is only around half of the 31% drop in trips shown in Table C: it seems that the average length of local bus trips has increased (see Table E) from 3.8 miles in 1985/86 to 4.6 miles in 2002/2003 (sampling variability may have caused the apparent all time high of 5.5 miles in 1998/2000). Over the same period, there has been little change in the average lengths of car trips as a car driver (around 8 ¹/ ₂ miles) and of walking trips (about ¹/ ₂ mile). Since 1985/86, the average length of a rail trip has remained around 30 miles.

3.4 Trips per person per year by purpose and by main mode of travel( Table F)

3.4.1 "Other personal business ..." was the most frequent purpose of travel in 2002/2003, accounting for 20% of trips (199 out of the average of 991 trips per person per year). The other main purposes of travel were "shopping" (19%), "commuting or business" (19%) and visiting friends at home and elsewhere (16%). In the NTS, "business" trips include travel to or from their work by people who have no usual place of work, or who work from home (see paragraph 4.4.3.). "Other personal business..." includes (eg) trips to the doctor, hairdresser, library and church, and escort trips other than escorting someone to a place of education. In travel terms these trips are, in some ways, similar to "shopping" trips: for example, often involving short trips to local destinations that are near shops (indeed, some shopping might be done as part of a trip to, say, a library).

3.4.2 In 2002/2003, almost 60% of commuting or business trips (110 out of 187) were made as a car driver. The other most frequently used means of travel for commuting or business purposes were walking (14%), as a passenger in a car (11%), and local bus (10%). More than half of all trips to or from education (53%: 41 out of 77) were on foot, and almost a fifth (17%) were made as a passenger in a car. In the case of "escort education" trips, in 2002/2003, 41% (13 out of 32) were made as a car driver, and these represented 3% of all trips made as a car driver (13 out of 376). Over half (60%) of shopping trips were made by car: 40% (76 out of 192) as a driver and 20% as a passenger. 28% of trips to the shops were made on foot, and 10% using a local bus.

3.5 Average distance travelled per person per year by purpose and by main mode( Table G)

3.5.1 Commuting or business purposes accounted for the largest single proportion of travel in 2002/2003: 28% of the total (1,879 miles out of the average of 6,667 miles travelled per person per year), followed by visiting friends at home or elsewhere (19%). "Other personal business..." accounted for 14% of the distance travelled. Shopping accounted for a further 14% and holidays and day trips, taken together, for 13%.

3.5.2 Almost two-fifths (37%) of the total distance travelled as a car driver was for commuting or business purposes (1,166 miles out of 3,136 miles), and a further 17% for "other personal business ...", 16% was in order to visit friends, and 14% was for shopping.

3.6 Trends in Trips per person per year, Average distance travelled per person per year, and Average length of trip - all by purpose of travel( Tables H1, H2, H3; Charts 5, 6)

3.6.1 Table H1 shows that, between 1985/86 and 2002/2003, the average number of trips per person per year increased by 19 (2%). The purpose for which there was the largest increase in the average numbers of trips was "other personal business ...." (up 40 or 25%). Chart 5 shows that most rises occurred at the start of the period and that, in some cases, there have been falls in the numbers of trips since then. There was a 12% fall in the number of commuting trips since 1985/86. Sampling variability affecting the results for 1985/86 may have exaggerated the fall in the average number of trips to a place of education: a 25% reduction from 102 to 77 is unlikely.

3.6.2 The average distance travelled per person per year increased by 43% between 1985/86 and 2002/2003, from under 4,700 miles to over 6,600 miles ( Table H2). The main reasons for this were the rises in the average distances travelled per head for "other personal business" (up 429 miles or 81%), shopping (up 361 miles or 67%), holidays and day trips (up 333 miles or 60%), visiting friends at home (up 254 miles or 33%) and commuting (up 252 miles or 26%). Chart 6 illustrates this, for those purposes for which most trips were made.

3.6.3 The average trip length rose from 4.8 miles in 1985/86 to 6.7 miles in 2002/2003 ( Table H3), with increases in the length of trip for almost every purpose. For example, the average length of commuting trips rose from 5.4 miles to 7.7 miles, and for shopping trips the increase was from 2.9 miles to 4.7 miles.

3.7 Hours travelled per person, and average duration of trip, by purpose( Tables I1 and I2)

3.7.1 Table I1 shows that, in 2002/03, 18% of hours travelled per person were for commuting. Shopping and "other personal business…" each accounted for 16%. There have not been great changes in the total amount of time spent travelling for most purposes: the biggest is the increase for "other personal business…." from 39 hours to 55 hours per person per year.

3.7.2 Since 1985/86 there have not been great changes in the average duration of trip by purpose ( Table I2): the main exception is holiday/day trip (down from 74 minutes in 1985/86 to 56 minutes in 2002/03). Generally the other figures have been fairly constant since 1985/86.

3.8 Trips per person per year by distance and by main mode of travel(Tables J, K, L)

3.8.1 People living in households with one car available made around 40% more trips (per head) in general than members of households with no car: residents in households with two or more cars available made almost 50% more trips per head than people in households with no car ( Table J).

3.8.2 Table K shows that, in 2002/2003, over a quarter of all trips were of under a mile (26%: 254 of the average of 991 per person per year), 18% were of at least 1 mile but under 2 miles in length, and 25% were at least 2 but under 5 miles. So, in total, 69% of all trips were under 5 miles in length. Only 5% of trips involved a distance of 25 miles or over

3.8.3 Over 70% of walking trips were under a mile in length (199 out of 281). About 8-9% of car trips involved a distance less than a mile, and a further 16-17% were at least 1 mile but under 2 miles, so around a quarter of all car trips were under 2 miles in length.

3.8.4 Since 1985/86, there has been a fall in the number of trips of under a mile in length, little change in the number of 1-2 mile trips, and the numbers of trips involving longer distances have risen ( Table L).

3.9 Trips per person per year by purpose and by age and then sex(Tables M, N and O; Chart 7)

3.9.1 Overall, in 2002/2003, the average number of trips per person per year was 991. Table M shows that, on average, people aged 60+ travelled less often: their average was 792 trips each, 20% fewer. Children also made fewer trips (926 each per year; 7% below the average); people aged 30-59 made the most trips (1,126 each, 14% more than the average).

3.9.2 As would be expected, there were considerable differences between the age-groups in the modes of transport that they used. Table M shows that children made most of their trips either as a passenger in a car (46%: 423 of their 926 trips) or on foot (39%), whereas almost half of adults' trips were made as the driver of a car (47%: 473 out of 1,007), with far fewer by foot (26%) or as a passenger in a car (15%). For adults, the percentage of trips made as a driver of a car was highest for the 30-59 age group (55%: 623 out of 1,126); and lowest for 16-29 year olds (32%: 320 out of 1,013), and higher for men (56%) than women (39%). Women made slightly more of their trips on foot than men (27% compared with 25%); among adults, this percentage was highest for those aged 16-29 (33%). The proportion of trips made as a passenger in a car was considerably higher for women (21%) than men (8%), but did not differ as much between the adult age-groups (varying from 12% for 30-59 year olds to 20% for those aged 60+). The use of public transport was highest for people aged 16-29, who made 17% of their trips in this way (12% by local bus and 6% by other forms of public transport); women made around 12% of their trips by public transport, men only 9%.

3.9.3 Table N shows that there were also considerable differences in the purposes for which trips were made. For children, education was the most frequent purpose, accounting for just over 30% of their trips (290 out of the average of 926 trips per child per year). The main purpose of travel for those aged 16-29, and for those aged 30-59, was commuting or business: it accounted for 25-29% of their trips. Shopping was the main purpose of travel for those aged 60+, accounting for 35% of trips (275 out of 792). For men, commuting or business was the purpose of 27% of trips (278 out of 1,011); for women, it was only 19% (195 out of 1,004). For women, the most frequent purpose was shopping, accounting for 24% of trips (239 out of 1,004); for men, it was 21% (208 out of 1,011).

3.9.4 Table O shows that, from 1985/86 to 2002/2003, on average, men consistently made more trips per person per year than women, however over time the differences are becoming less.

3.10 Distance travelled per person per year by main mode and by age and then by sex(Tables P, Q)

3.10.1 The differences between the age-groups and the sexes are greater when one looks at the average distances travelled per person per year ( Table P). Overall, in 2002/2003, the average distance travelled per person per year was over 6,600 miles. People aged 60+ travelled around 4,800 miles per person per year, 28% less than the overall average. Children averaged around 4,400 miles each per year, 34% below the average. People aged 30-59 travelled furthest: an average of almost 8,900 miles each per year, 33% more than the average. The difference between the sexes was marked: the men's average of over 8,200 miles per year was 30% above the women's average of over 6,300 miles.

3.10.2 There were considerable differences between the sexes in the modes of travel which were used. Car driver was the main one for men, accounting for 66% of the distance they travelled (5,462 miles out of their average of 8,259 miles per man per year), whereas for women only 42% of their travel was as a car driver (averaging 2,649 miles put of 6,377 miles). Women travelled further as passengers in cars (35%: 2,221 miles put of 6,377), whereas only 12% of men's travel was as a car passenger (1,001 miles out of 8,259). Women averaged 428 miles each by local bus; men only 286. Looking now at the figures for the age groups, as children are not car drivers, 75% of their travel was as a passenger in a car and only 5% was on foot. On average, 60% of the distance travelled by people aged 30-59 was as drivers of cars compared with 47% for those aged 60+ and 42% for 16-29 year olds. Only about one fifth of the total distance travelled by 30-59 year olds was as a passenger in a car compared with over a quarter for 16-29 year olds and three-tenths for those aged 60+. People aged 16-29 travelled the greatest distances by public transport (25% of their total distance travelled), this compares to 16-17% of distance travelled by public transport for all other adults.

3.10.3 Table Q shows that the average distance travelled per person in 2002/2003 was higher than in 1985/86 for all age-groups and for each sex with one exception - 16-29 year old men apparently travelled 7% less in 2002/2003 (this might be due to sampling variability: there were only about 250 men aged 16-19 in the sample in 2002/2003). There were greater percentage increases for women than for men, perhaps reflecting the more rapid growth for women than men in the percentage of adults who have a full car driving licence. The percentage rise was greatest for those aged 60+ for both sexes.

3.11 Trips per person per year by main mode and by ( GB) household income quintile(Table R; Chart 7)

3.11.1 The basis of the ( GB) household income quintile groups is described in paragraph 4.6.2. Table R shows that, in 2002/2003, there was a clear tendency for the average number of trips per person per year to increase with the level of the household income: people in the highest quintile household income group averaged almost 1,200 trips per year, 21% more than the overall average of 991; people in the lowest quintile household income group averaged just over 850 trips per year, 14% below the overall average. The number of trips made as a car driver increased sharply with household income: those in the highest band averaged just over 620 such trips, whereas those in the lowest band averaged just over 160. People in the lowest household income band made more trips on foot, and more trips by local bus, than those in the highest income band

3.12 Trips per person per year by main mode, by access to household car and by number of cars available to the household( Tables S1, S2; Chart 7)

3.12.1 As would be expected, the average number of trips per person per year varied considerably with the availability of a household car (if any). Table S1 shows that people in households with access to cars averaged 1,068 trips per year, 8% more than the overall average of 991. People in households without a car averaged 750 trips per year, 24% below the overall average. In households which had cars, the average for people who were the "main" drivers of cars (see paragraph 4.6.6) was almost 1,200 trips, compared with just 915 for non-drivers (including children).

3.12.2 Table S2 shows that people in households without a car averaged about twice as many trips by foot, and more than four times as many trips by local bus, as those in households with 2+ cars.

3.13 Trips per adult per year by purpose and by working status( Table T; Chart 7)

3.13.1 Table T shows that on average, adults who were working made more trips in 2002/2003 than those who were not working. Adults who were working part-time averaged about 1,300 trips each per year (26% more than the overall average), and those working full-time averaged about 1,100 trips per year (11% above the average). Retired people averaged about 780 trips each per year: 22% below the average. The sample numbers for the unemployed, students and those in the "home / other" category are small, so the results for them may not be particularly reliable. As would be expected, there was considerable variation between the groups in the reasons for their travel: for example "commuting or business" was the single most frequent purpose of travel for those who were working, and "shopping" was the main purpose of travel by retired people.

3.14 Average distance travelled per person per year by main mode and by socio-economic group( Table U)

3.14.1 The average distance travelled per person per year varied greatly with the socio-economic group of the head of the household. In 2002/2003, people in households headed by a professional person or a manager averaged nearly 10,000 miles each per year (50% more than the overall average of 6,667 miles per head) whereas people in households headed by someone who was retired, or otherwise economically inactive, tended to travel much less: for example, those in households headed by a retired person averaged only around 4,500 miles each per year (33% below the average). The differences between the socio-economic groups were greatest for the average distance travelled per person as a driver: this averaged over 5,000 miles per year for people in households headed by a professional or managerial worker, and just under 2,000 miles per year for people in households headed by a retired person.

3.15 Trips per person per year by household size and number of cars available to the household( Table V1)

3.15.1 The final two columns of Table V1 show that the sample sizes for some household size categories are small. Within each household size category, the sample size for each "number of cars" category will be even smaller. Therefore, some of the results shown may be subject to large percentage sampling errors, being based on data for small numbers of people, and the apparent differences between some categories may just be due to sampling variability. However, it appears that single person households, particularly those with no car, made the least trips per person per year and that, for a given size of household, those with more cars available generally made more trips per person.

3.16 Person trips per household per year by household composition and number of cars available to the household( Table V2)

3.16.1 Previous sections have provided the results in terms of the averages per person. This section, and the two which follow, provide results in terms of the averages per household - so there are large differences between the figures for households of different sizes, and more marked differences than in earlier sections between the figures for households with different numbers of cars (because the households with larger numbers of cars tend to be those with more members).

3.16.2 As with the previous table, the final two columns of Table V2 show the underlying sample sizes, and some of the figures may be subject to large percentage sampling errors, being based on data for a small number of cases. Therefore one should not read too much into some of the apparent differences between categories, as they may just be due to sampling variability. However, it is clear that, as would be expected, larger households make more trips than smaller ones. Overall households with 1 adult make only around half the overall average number of trips per household, whilst households with 2 adults make over 20% more than the overall average; households with three or more adults make around 70% more trips than the overall average. Within each category, the number of trips made by the household tends to increase with the number of children in the household, and also with the number of cars available to the household.

3.16.3 Overall one adult households with one car available made almost 40% fewer trips per household than the overall average. In comparison, two adult households with one car available made over 20% more than the average trips per household, and those with 2+ cars made over 40% more trips than the overall average.

3.17 Person trips per household per year by main mode and number of cars available to the household( Table W)

3.17.1 Over half of all trips made by members of households with no car were made on foot and around one fifth were made by local bus. This compares with about a quarter of trips made by foot and just under 6% made by local bus in households with one car and 18% of trips made by foot and only 3% by local bus in households with 2+ cars.

3.17.2 Three quarters of trips made by households with 2+ cars were either as a driver of or a passenger in a car. This compares to an overall average of just under 60% for all households, and only 16% for households with no cars.

3.18 Person trips per household per year by purpose and number of cars available to the household( Table X)

3.18.1 In 2002/2003 households with no car made around 32% fewer shopping trips than the overall average (though shopping did account for the highest proportion of their trips) whilst households with 2+ cars made 34% more shopping trips than the overall average.

3.18.2 Overall, households with no car made 43% fewer trips than the average and households with 2+ cars made 55% more. More than 3 times the number of escort education trips were made by households with 2+ cars available than those with no car available.

3.19 Trips per adult (16+) per year by purpose, by type of area and number of cars available to the household(Tables Y, Z)

3.19.1 The remaining tables provide average numbers of trips per adult, so there are less pronounced differences between households with different numbers of cars, which will tend to be households of different sizes.

3.19.2 Table Y shows that overall, on average, adults in households with 2+ cars available made about 15% more trips each than the overall average per adult, and adults in households without a car made about 27% fewer trips each.

3.19.3 There are around 39% more trips per adult for the purposes of commuting or business in households with 2+ cars than in households with one car available, but 10% fewer shopping trips per adult.

3.19.4 Table Z shows how the number of trips per adult apparently varies with the type of area. The final column shows that the sample sizes for some types of area are small. Within each type of area the sample size for each "number of cars" category will be even smaller. Therefore, some of the results shown may be subject to large percentage sampling errors, being based on data for small numbers of adults, and the apparent differences between the figures for the various types of area are often not so large that one can be confident that they reflect real differences between areas.

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