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2. Background
2.1 This bulletin provides information, collected by the Scottish Household Survey ( SHS) from 1999 to 2006, about the transport facilities available to private households, and about some travel by household members. The topics covered are listed in Section 2.5. The statistics were extracted in August 2007, so will not take account of any subsequent revisions to the SHS database.
2.2 The SHS collects a wide range of information. Annex 1 describes the topics covered by the survey, and Annex 2 shows the questions which have been analysed by various Transport Statistics bulletins. Some questions are asked about the household as a whole, and all the people in it; some relate only to one randomly-chosen adult (aged 16 or over) member of the household; and some are asked only about one schoolchild (if there is one in the household). Some questions are answered on behalf of the household by the Highest Income Householder (see section A.4 of the " Notes and Definitions") or his/her spouse/partner; others are answered by the randomly-chosen adult on behalf of him/herself. The results are weighted to take account of differences in selection probabilities. As with all such surveys, factors such as sampling variability and non-response bias may affect the results (see section A.13). And, as a survey of private households, the SHS does not cover some sections of the population - e.g. it does not collect information about many students, such as those who live in halls of residence (see section B.2.3 of the background information on the survey).
2.3 The main change in this edition is the inclusion of three new time-series tables, which show the trends in:
- the frequency of travelling by bus and by train;
- possession of a concessionary fare pass; and
- working at or from home.
In addition, this bulletin also contains information on some topics which were covered in earlier editions but not in the previous one:
- whether and, if so, how drivers make particular types of journey, and how easy or difficult this would be without a car;
- expenditure on public transport fares in the past seven days;
- journey planning;
- frequency of use of evening buses and trains, and feeling of safety from crime;
- employed adults' places of work;
- method of travel to work a year ago, and reasons for any change;
- reasons for choice of method of travel to school, and why those who go by car do not use public transport;
- limited mobility and Blue Badges.
Some tables from the previous edition have not been included for various reasons ( e.g. to make way for the new and restored tables, or because the results will not have changed by much since then). Annex 2 shows which topics were analysed in various Transport Statistics bulletins, and how some questions have been dropped, or asked in a simplified form, in later years, in order to make "space" in the questionnaire for other topics which provide more useful information. In addition, since the start of 2005, some questions have been asked of a randomly-chosen sub-sample of cases, in order to make "room" in the questionnaire to include more Transport topics.
2.4 Figures for some topics for the latest year would be based on small sample numbers. In some cases, this is because the questions concerned apply only to a small proportion of adults ( e.g. some questions about Traveline Scotland are asked only of those who have said that they used it); in other cases, it is because the questions concerned were only asked of a sub-sample of adults. In such cases, results may be produced from the data for two (or more) years ( e.g. 2005 and 2006), taken together, in order that they will be based on larger sample numbers, and therefore should be more reliable than figures based on the data for just the latest year.
2.5 The main sections of this bulletin present SHS results on a range of topics:
These are followed by
Tables A to O (time-series) and 1 to 28
Section A: Notes and Definitions
Section B: The Scottish Household Survey
Section C: Errors in the previous edition
Annex 1: Topics covered by the SHS
Annex 2: SHS Transport topics analysed in Transport Statistics bulletins of SHS results
2.6 "Household Transport" is one of a series of Transport Statistics publications, most of which focus on particular aspects of transport and cover them in depth. The individual publications that comprise the series are described in the section on "Transport Statistics publications" towards the end of this edition. A comprehensive statistical picture of transport activity is given by the compendium "Scottish Transport Statistics" volume, the "Main Transport Trends" bulletin and the "Key Transport Statistics" card. These provide figures on a wide range of topics, including: vehicles licensed, traffic volumes and road accidents; the numbers of passengers on bus, rail, air and ferry services; travel to work, travel to school, household car availability and other key findings from the SHS and the National Travel Survey; and the tonnages carried by road, rail and waterborne freight. "Household Transport", "Transport across Scotland" and " SHS Travel Diary results" provide more detailed analyses of the SHS's results on Transport topics.
Chart A: Number of cars available for private use by members of the household by annual net household income
Chart B: Number of cars available for private use by members of the household by year
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