Scottish Executive Travel Survey

3 CURRENT COMMUTING PATTERNS

3.1 Modes of transport overall¹

Car is the most common mode of transport to work with over half (52%) travelling by car for at least part of their journey that day, and 43% travelling mainly or solely by car. Bus is next most common, with a quarter of respondents (26%) using this as their main mode of transport, and a third (33%) travelling at least part of their journey by bus.

Although walking to work is the main mode of transport for one in seven (14%), nearly a third of respondents walk part of the way to work. Travel mainly by train is less common (13%) and the numbers of respondents travelling by bicycle or motorcycle is low (4% and 1% respectively).

3.2 Modes of transport by work location

Transport modes vary considerably depending on respondents' work locations. Car use is highest at Saughton House (67%) and Pentland House (60%), and lowest at St Andrew's House (18%), where travelling by bus (40%) is most common.

Train use is highest in Glasgow, where it is the main mode of transport for around two in five (46% at Europa Building and 41% at Meridian Court). The number of respondents cycling and using 'other' transport modes is low for all locations.

Table 2 Main mode of transport to work today by building (Q2)

Transport Mode	Europa Building	Meridian Court	Pentland House	Saughton House	St Andrew's House	Victoria Quay
No of respondents	153	231	361	419	420	439
No of respondents	%	%	%	%	%	%
Car (all)	26	19	60	67	18	49
Bus	18	28	19	18	40	21
Foot	7	8	13	6	17	18
Train	46	41	2	4	21	5
Bicycle	1	2	4	2	2	6
Motorbike	0	0	1	1	1	0
Other	1	2	0	1	2	1
Not stated	1	0	0	0	0	0

Clearly, work location strongly influences transport choice. Comments from the discussion groups indicate that this is mainly due to public transport accessibility and car parking availability. For example, some Victoria Quay respondents comment that they are put off public transport because there is no direct route, but they would use this if they worked more centrally. Similarly, Edinburgh public transport users/walkers comment that they might have to reconsider their transport choice if they were relocated to Saughton House.

Unless I worked in the centre of town, then I would [use public transport], because I'd only have two modes of transport, walk to the train station, take the train and that would be fine. It's just then the additional bus journey (to VQ) makes it all too much. Victoria Quay car user

In contrast, driving to work is not an option for many respondents working at St Andrew's House or in Glasgow, because there is limited free car parking at or near work, while car parking space is the factor that makes driving to work possible for others.

[Driving to work is] not an option because it costs £10 per day on the meter and there are not spaces in the car park. St Andrew's House public transport user/walker

If there was no car park or off street parking that would certainly dictate it. I worked at St Andrew's House and obviously had to go by bus, but the journey was considerably shorter than coming out of town. Pentland House car user

Other factors affecting respondents' travel choices are considered in section 4.

3.3 Travel mode combinations overall

On the day they completed the survey, 29% of respondents travelled to work by more than one mode of transport. For these combined transport users, 'bus & foot' is the most common combination (34% of combined transport users), followed by 'car driver and train' (10%) and 'foot and train' (9%).

Travel mode combinations overall

3.4 Lengths of journeys

Overall, 5% of respondents travel less than ten minutes to work. Nearly half (47%) have a journey to work of less than half an hour, with 12% of respondents travelling for more than one hour. Short journey times are most common at Pentland House where around one in three respondents (33%) travel 20 minutes or less to work, compared to just over one in ten at Meridian Court and Europa Building (14% and 11% respectively).

The start and finish points of respondents' journeys to work are illustrated in the six maps attached to this report. Each map shows all those travelling to that building on the day they completed the survey, and also indicates their main transport mode for that journey. Overall, most car journeys are less than 50km, but some respondents drove up to 100km to work on that day, and a small number of respondents drove less than 2km to work. These maps also show that train is used for a wide range of journey distances (2km - 100km) to St Andrew's House, Meridian Court and Europa Building.

3.5 Variations in travel

Nine out of ten respondents state that their journey to work on the day they completed the survey is how they normally travel. For those who normally travel by other means, car is the 'normal' mode for half (49%).

More than half of all respondents (56%) always travel in the same way, while others occasionally use alternative transport. Around one in five occasionally travel by bus or car (18% and 17% respectively) while some occasionally travel by foot (8%), train (7%), bicycle (3%) or motorbike (1%).

Reasons for alternative travel mentioned in the discussion groups include car users opting for public transport because they're going out after work, or public transport users driving because they have evening plans for which public transport is going to be less accessible.

3.6 Trend data²

Overall, commuting patterns are similar in both 2003 and 2006. Car use has risen for Saughton House (8%) and St Andrew's House (7%), but there is no significant difference in car use for other locations. There has also been no significant change in train use, with the exception of Saughton House, where although train use remains low, the percentage has doubled from 3% - 6%.

Notably, the proportion of respondents travelling at least part of their journey to work by foot has risen in all buildings, with significant percentage increases of between 8% and 13%.