Scottish Household Survey Bulletin No.6 : page 12


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Scottish Household Survey Bulletin No.6

6. Transport

Introduction

This section focuses on access and use of motor vehicles, travel to work and place of education, and availability and convenience of public transport.

Possession of driving licences

Table 35 shows the variation in possession of driving licences in the different area types. Overall, 63% of adults possess a full-driving licence, with 30% having never held a driving licence. In 'the four cities', the proportion of adults holding a full driving license decreases to 55%, while in 'accessible rural', 'remote rural' and 'very remote rural' areas, the proportions are significantly higher (76%, 76% and 77% respectively). Similarly, the proportion of adults who have never held a driving licence is higher in 'the four cities' (37%) and 'other urban areas' (30%) than in rural areas (18%,17% and 17%).

Table 35: Possession of driving licence by urban/rural classification

Column percentages
Adults

	The four cities	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Very remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Very Remote rural	Total
Full driving licence	55	62	68	66	64	76	76	77	63
Provisional driving licence	6	6	5	5	6	4	4	4	5
Never held a UK licence	37	30	25	27	29	18	17	17	30
Licence given up or disqualified	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2
Base	9,397	8,661	2,719	485	862	3,526	698	1,655	28,003

Table 36 shows possession of driving licences by Local Authority grouping. Adults in Glasgow are less likely than adults in any other area to possess a driving licence - 45% of adults in Glasgow have a driving licence compared with 63% overall. Conversely, adults in the Highlands and Islands, Grampian and Southern Scotland are the most likely to have a driving licence (72%, 70% and 71% respectively).

Table 36: Possession of driving licence by local authority grouping

Column percentages
Adults

	Edinburgh	Glasgow	Fife	North Lanarkshire	South Lanarkshire	Highlands and Islands	Grampian	Tayside	Central	Dunbartonshire	Renfrewshire and Inverclyde	Ayrshire	Lothians	Southern Scotland	Total
Full driving licence	64	45	66	59	64	72	70	64	68	65	59	64	65	71	63
Provisional driving licence	4	6	6	5	6	5	5	6	6	6	5	5	6	4	4
Never held a UK licence	31	47	26	36	29	21	22	28	25	28	33	29	28	23	30
Licence given up or disqualified	2	2	2	1	1	2	2	2	1	2	2	2	1	2	2
Base	2,319	2,902	1,787	1,487	1,473	3,812	2,207	2,048	1,863	1,021	1,851	2,016	1,833	1,394	28,013

If the data are further broken down into individual local authorities, the authority containing the smallest proportion of adults with driving licences is the City of Glasgow (45%). Dundee City, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, and Renfrewshire also have relatively small proportions of adults with driving licences (51%, 54%, 54% and 56% respectively)
(No table).

Aberdeenshire has the highest proportion of adults possessing a driving licence (79%), closely followed by Orkney (78%) (No table).

Access to motor vehicles

Table 37 shows access to motor vehicles broken down by the urban/rural classification. Households in 'the four cities', 'other urban areas' and 'very remote small towns' are the least likely to have access to a motor vehicle (47%, 35% and 40% respectively). Households in 'accessible rural' and 'remote rural' areas are most likely to have access to motor vehicles (80% and 82% respectively), with three out of ten having access to multiple vehicles.

Table 37: Number of motor vehicles households have access to by urban/rural classification

Column percentages
Households

	The four cities	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Very remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Very Remote rural	Total
None	47	35	28	28	40	20	18	23	36
One	40	47	52	55	48	48	53	53	45
Two	12	16	17	15	11	27	25	20	16
Three or more	1	2	2	1	1	5	4	3	2
Base	10,125	9,354	2,903	508	906	3,818	743	1,789	30,146

In terms of Local Authority grouping, households in Glasgow are least likely to have access to a motor vehicle (60% have no access) (Table 38). A high proportion of households in Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire and Inverclyde also have no access to a motor vehicle (41%, 40% and 40% respectively).

Table 38: Number of motor vehicles households have access to by local authority grouping

Column percentages
Households

	Edinburgh	Glasgow	Fife	North Lanarkshire	South Lanarkshire	Highlands and Islands	Grampian	Tayside	Central	Dunbartonshire	Renfrewshire and Inverclyde	Ayrshire	Lothians	Southern Scotland	Total
None	41	60	31	40	33	27	28	35	29	32	40	35	29	26	36
One	43	33	48	44	47	54	48	46	45	46	41	48	48	53	45
Two	14	7	18	15	17	17	20	16	22	19	18	15	20	18	16
Three or more	1	1	3	2	3	3	3	2	3	3	2	2	3	2	2
Base	2,479	3,116	1,890	1,614	1,593	4,095	2,408	2,189	2,018	1,121	1,980	2,159	2,014	1,481	30,157

Some variations appear within the Local Authority grouping when broken down into individual authorities. For example, although in Tayside as a whole, the proportion of households with no access to a motor vehicle is 35%, in Dundee City, the proportion increases to 49% (No table).

Frequency of driving

Although there is a considerable amount of geographical variation in relation to access to motor vehicles and possession of driving licences, it appears that there is relatively little difference in the frequency of driving among those adults who hold a full driving licence. Table 39 shows that, overall, 70% of adults with a full driving licence drive every day. This decreases to 64% in 'the four cities', but there does not seem to be any clear pattern relating to the rurality of areas. For example, those who live in 'other urban areas' are as likely to drive every day as those who live in 'very remote rural' areas (72% in each case).

Table 39: Frequency of driving by urban/rural classification

Column percentages
Adults with full driving licences

	The four cities	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Very remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Very Remote rural	Total
Every day	64	72	72	66	71	74	69	72	70
At least three times a week	12	11	13	15	12	13	16	14	12
Once or twice a week	7	6	6	8	7	7	9	6	7
Less than once a week	7	4	4	6	4	3	3	3	5
Never	9	6	5	6	6	3	3	4	6
Base	4,990	5,192	1,770	309	520	2,640	524	1,232	17,177

Variation does exist in driving frequency across the Local Authority groups, with those in possession of a driving licence in Edinburgh and Glasgow least likely to drive every day (Table 40).

Table 40: Frequency of driving by local authority grouping

Column percentages
Adults with full driving licences

	Edinburgh	Glasgow	Fife	North Lanarkshire	South Lanarkshire	Highlands and Islands	Grampian	Tayside	Central	Dunbartonshire	Renfrewshire and Inverclyde	Ayrshire	Lothians	Southern Scotland	Total
Every day	55	61	72	74	75	72	70	70	76	72	75	72	73	68	70
At least three times a week	16	10	11	11	11	12	13	13	12	11	11	13	13	15	12
Once or twice a week	10	8	7	6	5	7	8	7	5	5	4	5	7	7	7
Less than once a week	9	8	4	4	4	4	6	4	3	3	4	4	3	4	5
Never	10	12	6	6	6	5	4	6	4	9	6	7	4	5	6
Base	1,428	1,218	1,132	819	912	2,661	1,525	1,263	1,222	635	1,027	1,225	1,157	961	17,185

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Scottish Household Survey Bulletin No.6

6. Transport

Making It Work Together