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6 Access to services
- Eighty per cent of respondents described public transport as convenient or fairly convenient in 2007.
- Public transport convenience was dependent on the urban/rural classification of residence. 3
- Almost seventy per cent of respondents used the car as their usual method to work, of which only six per cent were as a passenger.
- Car use increased and bus use decreased as income increased when travelling to work.
- Households with multiple car access were the least likely to take the bus to work than those with no car access.
- Respondents in rural areas were more likely to say it was not possible to travel to key medical facilities by public transport.
Travel to work
6.1 Almost nine out of ten respondents worked away from home in 2007, constant since 2005. [ Table 11]. This is lower than the GBNTS07 figure of 97 per cent, which may be due to the different topography of Scotland to GB as a whole.
6.2 In 2007, almost seventy per cent of respondents used the car as their usual method to work, of which only six per cent were as a passenger (Figure 8). This has increased since 1999 where 67 per cent of journeys were by car, but the percentage travelling as a passenger has dropped from 12 per cent in 1999.
Figure 8: Travel to work a) 1999 and b) 2007
6.3 GB figures show a similar picture: The Autumn 2007 Labour Force Survey shows 69 per cent of people travelling to work by car and 16 per cent by public transport.
6.4 Women were more likely to go to work by active or public transport (including non-service buses) than men (33 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively). Men were more likely to drive to work than women (66 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively). [ Table 26].
6.5 Car use increased and bus use decreased as income increased, suggesting income is a driver in work transport choice (Figure 9).
Figure 9: Main method of travel to work by annual net household income, 2007
6.6 Large urban areas had the largest share of journeys to work by bus and rail, with bus accounting for one in five of all journeys to work, in 2007. Car use increased as areas became more remote; however, the drop in car use in remote rural areas can be partially attributed to the increased percentage of respondents working from home.
6.7 Unsurprisingly, households with multiple car access were the least likely to take the bus to work than those with no car access (3 per cent and 43 per cent. respectively).
6.8 Family households were the most likely to use the car (either as a driver or passenger) to travel to work (74 - 75 per cent) and single pensioners the least. This may be linked to the time constraints of family households ( e.g. dropping children off before work) and also to the access of cars in different households due to disposable income levels.
Travel to School
6.9 In 2007, the majority of journeys to school (53 per cent) were made on foot, with rail and buses (including non-service buses) accounting for 22 per cent of the modal share, a slight drop from 2006; however, this drop may simply be due to sampling variability (Figure 10). [ Table 13].
6.10 The dependence on the car as a mode of transport to school decreases as the age of the school child increases (Figure 11), with secondary school age children less likely to travel by car than primary school age children (13 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively). Correspondingly, the dependence on bus (school and service) use increases with school age (35 per cent in secondary and 11 per cent in primary).
Figure 10: Mode of transport for children a) 1999 and b) 2007
Figure 11: Travel to school, 2004 - 2007
6.11 School children in small remote towns were the most likely to walk to school (70 per cent), which may be due to the fact that walking distances to schools in these areas is small and may be seen as a 'safe' environment for walking compared to more densely populated areas. School children in rural areas were the most likely to travel by bus, which is due to the greater distance between schools in these areas.
6.12 Children in large family households were the least likely to walk to school but the most likely to travel by bus.
6.13 For those children whose mode was walking, the main reason given for this was that the school was close by and also that it was the most convenient mode. [ Table 28]. Children who went by car or bus the most often cited reason was that it was the most convenient mode.
6.14 More respondents stated that children of primary school age were not able to use public transport than for secondary school age children (69 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively). [ Table 29].
Access to services
6.15 Eighty-per cent of respondents felt that public transport was very or fairly convenient to access in 2007. Respondents in rural areas had a much lower accessibility figure than non-rural areas (53 - 59 per cent), concurring with results found in the previous sections (Figure 12). [ Table 30].
Figure 12: Respondents who felt that public transport was very or fairly convenient, 2007
6.16 There was very little difference between age and gender sub-groups, and access to services. However, respondents over 60 had a tendency to report a lower accessibility than younger respondents.
6.17 Respondents with a driver licence were more likely to say that services were very or fairly convenient to access compared to respondents without a driving licence (Figure 13).
6.18 The percentage of respondents who felt that petrol stations were accessible was dependent on household income, i.e. respondents on low incomes (up to £10,000 p.a.) were less likely to find petrol stations accessible than high income households (over £20,000 p.a.; 58 per cent and 83 per cent, respectively). This is directly linked to the number of cars a household has access to. High income households have access to more cars, in general, than low income households and thus will use petrol stations more than those without cars and so find them more accessible.
Figure 13: Respondents who felt that services were very or fairly convenient to access, 2007
Access to medical services
6.19 In general two-thirds of respondents felt that dentists were very or fairly convenient to access, 57 per cent thought hospital outpatients were accessible and 80 per cent thought doctors were accessible.
6.20 In 2007 new questions were added to the SHS that addressed how adults travelled to key medical facilities . i.e. doctors' surgeries, dentists and hospital out-patient departments. [ Table 31 - Table 33].
6.21 Women were more likely to use public or active transport when travelling to key medical facilities (43 - 46 per cent travelling to dentist and doctors' surgery, respectively and 25 per cent travelling to hospital out-patients department).
6.22 Car or van was the predominant mode of choice when travelling to key medical facilities, with the majority travelling as a driver. Respondents in rural areas were much more likely to use the car to go to key medical facilities than respondents in non-rural areas (Figure 14).
6.23 Small remote towns, which generally will have some hospital provisions, dentists and doctors' surgeries within a small area, show a large percentage of journeys by foot. This is especially evident in the case of travel to hospital out-patients where 19 per cent travel by foot, much larger than for other classifications.[ Table 33].
Figure 14: Car use to key medical facilities by urban/rural, 2007
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