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Indicator 17. Travel: accessibility

Percentage of Scottish households within 6 minutes walk of a bus stop: 2003

Percentage of Scottish households within 6 minutes walk of a bus stop

Source: Scottish Executive, Scottish Household Survey ( SHS)

The relevance of the indicator

Accessibility to transport is a key issue for sustainable development and social justice. We need to ensure that more Scottish households are able to choose sustainable forms of transport.

Detailed definition and source details

The indicator is defined as the percentage of Scottish households within a 6 minute walk of a bus service. The data are from annual results of the Scottish Household Survey ( SHS) which is commissioned by the Scottish Executive and has been running since 1999. Householders are asked how long it would take the interviewer to walk to the nearest bus stop (or place where one could get on a bus). Results are published annually in Bus and Coach Statistics and in the annual Household Transport… and biennial Transport across Scotland… statistical bulletins of transport-related results from the SHS¹. While, in theory, results on a slightly different basis might be available for some earlier years from the National Travel Survey, in practice its clustered design and the small size of its sample in Scotland mean that they have not been used.

Trends

The SHS figures suggest little change between 1999 and 2003.

Further disaggregation

The SHS results can be disaggregated in many ways, including by household type, social class, household income band, property type, tenure, local authority and "urban" and "rural" areas (details of the SHS "urban" and "rural" categories are given in the Annex).

Around 90% of households living in urban areas in Scotland are within 6 minutes walk of a bus stop, as are very roughly 85% of those living in small towns, compared with under 75% of households living in "accessible" rural areas, and only about 60% of those in "remote" rural areas. The percentages for some of the types of area can fluctuate noticeably from year to year, due to sampling variability ( e.g., in 2003, the SHS sample included under 700 households in "remote" small towns) and due to population changes causing some settlements to be counted in a different category of the "urban / rural" classification in the next year.

Target

To increase local bus passenger journeys by an average of 1% per year. The total for 2003-04 was about 3% above the 2000-01 level.

Action

Local buses are the most frequently used and the most accessible mode of public transport across Scotland. As might be expected, in rural areas a higher proportion of the population live further away from bus stops than in urban areas, and in some of Scotland's most remote areas no services are available. Nonetheless, the Executive provides substantial resources in the form of direct and indirect support for the bus network by means of Bus Service Operators grant to operators, allocations to local authorities to support socially necessary local bus services; financial support for Concessionary Travel; and Bus Route Development Grant to kick-start bus services with potential to grow. Further support is provided through the Rural Transport Fund for local bus services which may otherwise not be economically viable and for demand responsive and community transport initiatives, tailored to meet the transport needs of local communities. The Public Transport Fund, although now closed for new projects, is continuing to fund a wide range of bus improvements such as infrastructure and dedicated bus lanes which are designed to encourage greater patronage.

Footnote

1 These publications are available on the Scottish Executive website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/transtat/latest

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