Scottish Household Survey Bulletin No.5: page 6


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Scottish Household Survey Bulletin No.5

5. Transport

Introduction

The survey data allows an examination of how people travel to work/place of education, their use of public transport and possession of driving licences. This section explores the different travel behaviour of men and women and their experiences of, and access to, different forms of transport.

Table 23 shows the modes of travel to work/place of education used by men and women. As the table shows, a high proportion of adults travel to work/education by car or van, either as the driver or passenger (62% overall). Men are more likely than women to be the driver of the car or van, while women are slightly more likely to be passengers. Women are also more likely to walk or take a service bus than men.

Table 23: Usual method of travel to work or place of education by age and sex	Column percentages
	Adult population in work or education

	Male	Female	Total
Walking	12	19	15
Driver car,van	57	44	51
Passenger car,van	10	13	11
Motorcycle,moped	1	0	0
Bicycle	3	1	2
School bus	1	1	1
Works bus	2	1	1
Ordinary (service) bus	9	16	13
Taxi,minicab	0	1	0
Rail	4	3	3
Underground	0	0	0
Ferry	0	0	0
Aeroplane	0	0	0
Other	2	1	2
Base	3,117	3,397	6,514

Around three-quarters of adults who work said that public transport was either very or fairly convenient. There were no significant differences between men and women in this respect (no table). However, a higher proportion of women than men who currently do not use public transport to travel to work or place of education, say it would be possible for them to do so (51% and 41% respectively).

Men and women who said they could use public transport to travel to work or place of education, but do not, were asked why they do not use public transport. In addition, those who said that it is not possible for them to travel to work or education using public transport were asked why it was not possible. The main reasons are shown in table 24, which shows that there are only very slight differences between men and women. In both circumstances, men are more likely than women not to use, or not to be able to use, public transport to travel to work or education because they need the car during the working day or work unsociable hours. Men are also slightly more likely to have a car provided by their employer.

Table 24: Main reasons for not using public transport to travelto work or education by sex

Column percentages

	Adults in work or education who say it is not possible to use public transport			Adults in work or education who could use public transport but do not
	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
Lack of service	29	34	31	6	7	6
No direct route	32	33	33	22	18	20
Too infrequent	8	12	10	7	8	7
Takes too long	16	16	16	36	37	36
Need car for work	20	14	18	13	6	9
Work unsociable hours	20	13	17	8	5	7
Inconvenient	25	25	25	47	47	47
Too much to carry	6	4	5	2	4	3
Long walk to bus stop	1	2	2	2	2	2
Cost	3	2	3	11	11	11
Unreliable transport	5	5	5	6	6	6
Use own car	11	13	12	22	26	24
Base	1,869	1,516	3,385	1,217	1,416	2,633

* Columns sum to more than 100% as multiple responses are allowed

Driving

Some of the differences between the number of men and women driving to work might be explained by differences in access to vehicles and possession of driving licences. Only 53% of women aged 17 or over have a full driving licence compared with 78% of men aged 17 or over. Table 25 shows that some of this difference could be attributed to historical factors, with women in the older age bands being the least likely to have a driving licence. The differences between men and women are smaller in the younger age bands but increase among older adults. For example, while 70% of men aged 60 to 74 have a driving licence, the equivalent for women is just under a quarter. However, even among the younger age bands, women are less likely to have a driving licence than men are.

Table 25: Possession of full driving licence by age and sex	Column percentages
	Adults aged 17 years and over

		17-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+	Total
Male	Have full licence	53	81	86	85	78	72	78
Male	Base	654	1,534	1,707	1,486	1,398	1,889	8,668
Female	Have full licence	40	66	70	64	50	24	53
Female	Base	848	2,034	2,077	1,685	1,694	3,133	11,471
All aged 17 and over	Have full licence	46	73	77	74	64	44	64
All aged 17 and over	Base	1,502	3,568	3,784	3,171	3,092	5,022	20,139

Although men are more likely than women to drive, there is very little variation in the frequency with which men and women drive among those who do. Table 26 shows that 72% of men and 67% of women with a driving licence drive every day.

Table 26: Frequency of driving by sex	Column percentages
	Adult population with driving licences

	Male	Female	Total
Every day	72	67	70
At least three times a week	11	14	12
Once or twice a week	7	7	7
At least two or three times a month	1	2	1
At least once a month	1	1	1
Less than once a month	2	3	3
Never	6	7	6
Base	7,435	5,867	13,302

Table 27 shows the proportion of men and women in different age groups who drive for a living, drive on business, drive for social reasons and drive to and from work. Women are more likely than men to drive for social purposes (91% and 86% respectively) while men are more likely than women to drive for a living (9% and 1% respectively) and drive on business (20% and 11% respectively).

Table 27: Reasons for driving by age and sex	Column percentages
	Adults who drive nowadays

	17 to 24		25 to 34		35 to 44		45 to 59		60 to 74		75 and over		Total
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Drives for a living	5	0	12	1	11	2	12	2	4	0	-	-	9	1
Drives on business	6	5	22	10	27	12	27	15	8	5	0	2	20	11
Drives for social reasons	86	90	83	90	83	91	84	89	95	97	98	99	86	91
Drives to and from work	55	52	70	60	69	62	61	56	17	11	3	3	53	52
Base	396	342	1,351	1,317	1,574	1,445	1,907	1,501	1,325	811	347	170	6,900	5,586

*Columns sum to more than 100% as multiple responses are allowed

Access to vehicles

Table 28 shows the balance of main access to motor vehicles within households by the household working status. Overall, in 48% of households containing couples with access to motor vehicles, men have the only or the main access to motor vehicles, compared with 23% where women have the only or main access.

Table 28: Balance of main access to motor vehicles by household working status	Column percentages
	Households comprising couples with access to motor vehicles

	Working couple	Couple, one works	Couple, neither works	Total
Only male drivers in household	11	23	43	20
Male partner has main access to vehicle	28	28	30	28
Equal male and female main access	36	26	10	29
Female partner has main access	23	20	12	20
Only female drivers in household	2	3	5	3
Base	3,959	1,916	1,142	7,017

In 29% of couple households, men and women have equal access to motor vehicles. This is much more likely in households comprising a couple where both partners work (36%).

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