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3. Cars and bicycles available to households
3.1 The interviewer asks the Highest Income Householder (or his/her spouse/partner) about any cars normally available for private use by members of the household. The first row of Table 1 shows that, for Scotland as a whole, in the two-year period 2005 and 2006 combined, 32% of households said that they did not have a car available for private use, 44% had one car, 20% had two cars, and 4% had three or more cars. 68% of households had one or more cars, and 24% had two or more cars.
3.2 The next six rows show how the position varied between "urban" and "rural" areas. 85-86% of households in rural areas had one or more cars available for private use compared with 58% of households in large urban areas. Households in rural areas were the most likely to have two or more cars: 40% of those in "accessible" rural areas did so (33% had two cars, and 7% had three or more), as did 34% of those in "remote" rural areas (28% had two cars, and 6% had three or more). Only 17% of households in large urban areas had two or more cars.
3.3 The remaining rows provide figures for each local authority area. Chart A illustrates how car availability varies between Council areas. The percentage of households having two or more cars was highest for Aberdeenshire (39%) and East Renfrewshire (43%) and lowest for Dundee (14%) and Glasgow (10%). Table 2 shows that, among the RTPs, the figure ranges from 21% for Strathclyde to 33% for Zetland.
3.4 The first column of Table 1 shows that, overall, 32% of households did not have a car. The percentage without a car was highest in large urban areas (42%), and lowest in rural areas (14-15%). Glasgow (54%) and Dundee (47%) had the highest percentages without a car; Aberdeenshire (14%) had the lowest, followed by East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Perth & Kinross, Moray and Shetland (all 18-20%). Table 2 shows that the RTPs' figures ranged from 20% for Zetland to 38% for Strathclyde.
3.5 The interviewer asks whether the household has any bicycles which can be used by adults. Table 1 shows that 35% of households had one or more bicycles. This percentage varied with the type of area, from 26% in large urban areas to 47-48% in rural areas. It was lowest in Glasgow and Dundee (both 18-21%); and highest in Moray (56%) and Aberdeenshire, Angus and Highland (all 51-53%).
3.6 Table 2 compares the figures for the two-year period 2005/2006 with the figures for the three previous two-year periods for Scotland as a whole, for each type of area and each RTP. One should remember that, when there are many sample estimates, a few apparently "statistically significant" changes may arise purely by chance, due to sampling variability ( see paragraph 10.8). The main change is the increase in the percentage of households with two or more cars, which seems to have been more rapid in rural areas and in "accessible" small towns, and a less marked rise in the percentage with one or more cars. Occasionally there are slightly "odd" results - for example, an area's percentage of households without a car may appear to rise slightly in one period, but this may well reflect sampling variability (e.g. purely by chance, that period's sample produced too high a value) rather than a genuine increase in its percentage without a car.
Chart B: Households with cars; people with full driving licences, who drive often: 2005 and 2006
Chart C: Adults (16+) who walked or cycled in the previous seven days: 2005 and 2006
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