The Scottish Government

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Executive Summary

The Scottish Executive's Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department commissioned MORI Scotland to conduct a programme of research to establish the extent to which Traveline Scotland has contributed to modal shift. Within this broad framework, key areas of interest were: how many journeys have been made by public transport that would otherwise have been made by car, as a result of accessing information from Traveline Scotland; how many journeys continued to be made by car and the reasons why; how many journeys were made by public transport which would not have been made otherwise and the reasons why; types of journey Traveline Scotland was used for; reasons why people chose public transport for these journeys; examine any short-term and long-term changes in transport behaviour and investigate what changes and improvements could be made to the service to further improve its contribution to the use of public transport.

In each of these areas the research uncovered some important findings which should assist in measuring and improving Traveline Scotland's contribution to modal shift. The main findings from the research are as follows.

• The research shows that two-thirds of Traveline Scotland users surveyed are women and a third are men. There are significant differences between the original sample drawn from the Scottish Household Survey ( SHS) ¹ and the sample of Traveline Scotland users (derived from the SHS). Traveline Scotland users are more likely than the population as a whole to be women, aged 25-44, employed, earning £36,400 per annum and living in urban areas.
• There is some variation in travel behaviour among the Traveline Scotland users surveyed. Overall, more users drive a car or are a passenger in a car than use most forms of public transport. However, buses are used almost as often as the car. The use of public transport is strongly related to the presence of cars in the household and household income. Traveline Scotland users are also more likely than the population as a whole to be multi-modal - using a combination of public transport and cars. Information from the focus groups emphasised this further, in that participants chose a particular mode(s) of transport depending on the type of journey they had to make.
• For all journey types included in the research public transport use increased and car use decreased after contacting Traveline Scotland. This suggests that modal shift is related to receipt of travel information from Traveline Scotland. The research shows that because a shift occurred across a range of journeys, Traveline Scotland contributes to modal shift rather than modal shift being dependent on a particular type of journey respondents make. However, when respondents were asked directly, there was no consensus on whether they would have made the switch to public transport without contacting Traveline Scotland.
• Although a degree of modal shift has occurred after contacting Traveline Scotland some people continued to use their car for journeys they had contacted Traveline Scotland about. This suggests that while information about public transport might be an important factor in facilitating change, the journey itself is the key. The Traveline Scotland service may be accurate and efficient and meet people's information needs, however there is only so much that public transport can accomplish and it would be unrealistic to expect public transport to meet everyone's travel needs. Some of the reasons given for not making the change to public transport included: the car is more convenient on this occasion and public transport will take too long.
• To shed more light on why some people continue to use their cars, attitude statements were analysed by key demographic variables. Five types of people were identified: those whose public transport use had peaked, those who felt constrained, those who felt uninformed, those who were lazy and those who showed complacency. Women's travel behaviour was more likely to have peaked than males and they also felt more uninformed about the services on offer. There was also tendency for females to be more lazy than males. In contrast, males were more likely to feel constrained and complacent about public transport use and car dependency.
• Users were positive about Traveline Scotland services. Users from the telephone survey show a preference for using the website, over the telephone and text messaging services. In the focus groups there was a sense that the website was difficult to use at first, but became easier the more it was used. The only negative comment users made about the telephone service was that they disliked being directed to a travel operator to find fare information. The number of repeat users to the telephone and website services further emphasises that Traveline Scotland is providing a useful and efficient service.
• The research suggests that Traveline Scotland makes it easier for people who are in the process of switching to public transport, facilitating that transition or supporting the desire to identify a public transport option. Traveline Scotland seems to reinforce public transport decisions rather than bring them about. The research indicates that Traveline Scotland seems to function well as a bridge to modal shift, making public transport information more accessible to the general population.

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