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Chapter three: Profile of Traveline Scotland users

Sample Profile

The research shows that two-thirds of Traveline Scotland users surveyed were women (66%) and a third (34%) were men. Table 3.1 compares the profile of those interviewed in the survey and those from the Traveline Scotland sample, against the profile of households from the 2003/2004 Scottish Household Survey.

As table 3.1 illustrates, there are significant differences between the original sample drawn from the SHS³ and the sample of TLS users. The original sample drawn from the SHS contained a higher proportion of women than the whole SHS sample, a higher proportion of 25-44 year olds and a higher proportion of both working adults and adults in households with an annual net income for £15,600 or more. Compared with all SHS respondents, the TLS sample is more urban. Although not statistically significant, respondents in the TLS sample are slightly less likely than those in the SHS respondent sample to be in households with a car. They were more likely to live within 3 minutes walk of a bus stop.

The profile of the achieved sample is similar to that of the original selected sample although on two characteristics - sex and income - the achieved sample under-represents men (34% of the achieved sample and 40% of the sample) and low income households (24% of the achieved interviews were with adults in households with incomes under £15,600 compared with 35% of the sample). This appears to be primarily a problem of non-response to the survey although the data used for sample selection from the 2004 SHS did not explicitly identify TLS users and about 10% of those contacted for the survey were screened out as ineligible.

Table 3.1: Sample profile

Travel Patterns and Behaviour of Traveline Scotland Users

Based on the current survey results, there is some variation in the use of different modes of transport among TLS users. Overall, more people drive a car or are a passenger in a car than use most forms of public transport, with 57% saying they drive a car and 53% saying they are a passenger in car at least once a week as table 3.2 illustrates. Buses are however, used almost as often (at least once a week) as cars (either as a driver or a passenger), with 51% using a bus at least once a week. More importantly, 48% of respondents said they drive a car "on most days" suggesting that for these people, any modal shift as a consequence of contacting Traveline Scotland is unlikely to have been related to a regular journey.

Table 3.2: Frequency of transport use

Q6. How often, if at all, do you use each of these modes of transport to get around?

The use of public transport is strongly related to the presence of cars in the household and household income, as table 3.3 shows. In households with an annual net income of between £5,200 and £15,600, 40% of respondents use a bus on most days compared with only 15% of those with an income of £36,400 or more. Similarly, 61% of respondents in no-car households use a bus on most days compared with 12% of those in households with 2 or more cars.

Table 3.3: Percentage using mode of transport most days by annual household income and car ownership

Q6 ⁴. How often, if at all, do you use each of these modes of transport to get around?

This pattern of bus use is very similar to the pattern found in the 2003/2004 SHS data among all adults - 60% of respondents in no-car households using a bus at least once a week compared with 12% of those in households with 2 more cars and 40% of those in households with an income of less than £15,600 compared with 16% of adults in households with an income of £36,400 or more. ⁵

Most importantly, although the sample characteristics in table 3.1 show that car ownership is broadly similar to the population as a whole (as measured in the SHS) and the income distribution is higher among respondents than in the population as a whole, bus use is higher when we might expect it to be lower. For example, table 3.2 shows that 51% of TLS users used a bus at least once a week. The corresponding proportion for all adults in Scotland is 30%. In spite of this, the survey results show that TLS users drive as often as the population as a whole - 57% driving at least once a week compared with 58% among all adults.

The result of this is that TLS users are more likely than the population as a whole to be multi-modal - using a combination of public transport and cars. For example, 17% of the survey sample used both buses and cars at least once a week compared with only 7% among adults in the SHS.

Information from the focus groups emphasised this further in that several participants said they used multiple modes of transport with the method of transport dependent on the type of journey they had to make. This is explored in more detail later in the report.

Where I go, I go to my daughters, there's only about three trains run a day. I've got to get off at Uddingston and then get a bus to go right into Glasgow and then get back out of the way. She's out at Stonehouse. The train only stops at Uddingtson so many times a day.

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