< Previous | Contents | Next >

SCOTTISH TRANSPORT STATISTICS: No 21

SUMMARY TRANSPORT STATISTICS

1. Introduction

1.1 The tables that follow provide a summary of the trends for each mode of transport in Scotland over the past ten years, and a comparison of some key figures for Scotland and Great Britain (or, in a few cases, the UK as a whole).

2. Transport in Scotland: main points

2.1 The number of motor vehicles licensed in Scotland in 2001 was over 2.2 million, 3% more than the previous year, and is estimated to be about 27% higher than the number in 1991, when account is taken of the change in the basis of the figures after 1992. There were roughly 241,000 new vehicle registrations in 2001, the highest number ever recorded. Figure 1 shows a generally steady increase in vehicle numbers (see also chapter 1).

2.2 In 2000-01 there were 436 million passenger journeys on local bus services, slightly more than in the previous year, but 25% less than in 1990-91. The increase in passenger numbers in 2000-01 was only the fourth since the current records began in 1975, and the first time since then that there have been increases in two consecutive years. Figures 2 and 3 show that local bus passenger numbers are significantly higher than those for other modes of public transport (see also chapter 2).

2.3 Freight lifted by road in 2001 was 151 million tonnes, a fall of 8 million tonnes (5%) over the previous year, and only slightly higher than the amount lifted 10 years earlier (about 149 million tonnes). Figure 5 shows that, over the past ten years, the volume of road freight has usually been close to the average for the period of 156 million tonnes per year: 1991 and 2001 were exceptions (see also chapter 3).

2.4 In 2001, around 22.6 million vehicles were estimated to have crossed the Forth Road Bridge (almost 61,900 per day), more than in any previous year (see also chapter 4).

2.5 There were over 54,000 kilometres of public road in Scotland in 2001. The trunk road network accounted for 6% of the total (see also chapter 5).

2.6 The estimated total volume of traffic on Scotland's roads in 2000 was about 43.2 billion (thousand million) vehicle kilometres. As the estimates for major roads (motorways and A roads) for the five years from 1996 to 2000 have fluctuated between roughly 24.5 and 25.6 billion vehicle kilometres per year, it appears that the total volume of traffic on major roads has remained broadly unchanged between 1996 and 2000. However, the longer-term picture is different: the estimated total volume of traffic on major roads has grown by about 16% since 1990. These figures will be revised once the Department for Transport has improved its method of estimating the volume of road traffic (see also chapter 6).

2.7 Over the past ten years, the number of casualties injured in road accidents has fallen by 22% to just under 20,000 in 2001. Although the number of fatalities in 2001 (347) was 21 (6%) more than the figure for 2000, it was still the third lowest figure since current records began more than 50 years ago (see also chapter 7).

2.8 The total number of rail passenger journeys originating in Scotland was 65.3 million in 2000-01, 2.4 million (4%) less than in the previous year, but 19% more than 10 years earlier (see also chapter 8).

2.9 There were about 18.1 million air terminal passengers at airports in Scotland in 2001, 8% more than in the previous year, and 89% more than in 1991. Figure 3 shows a fairly steady rise in passenger numbers over the past 10 years (see also chapter 9).

2.10 In 2000, 5.3 million passengers were carried on those shipping services within Scotland for which at least ten years’ figures are available, almost the same as the previous year. The longer-term trends are affected by the reduction in traffic that followed the opening of the Skye Bridge in 1995 (see also chapter 10).

3. Comparison with Great Britain (or the UK): main points

3.1 In 2001, there were 44 vehicles per 100 population in Scotland compared with 51 in Great Britain. Figure 6 shows that the number of vehicles per head of population has been consistently lower in Scotland than in Great Britain. In 2000 (the latest year for which comparable figures are available), it is estimated that around 66% of households in Scotland had the regular use of a car compared to 73% in Great Britain as a whole. The year-to-year fluctuations in the estimates for Scotland may reflect sampling variability.

3.2 Relative to the size of the population, the length of the road network is greater in Scotland than in Great Britain: in 2001, there were 10.6 kilometres of road per 1,000 population in Scotland compared with only 6.8 kilometres per 1,000 population in Great Britain.

3.3 Per head of population, there is less traffic on Motorways, and more traffic on A roads, in Scotland than in Great Britain. However, over the past ten years, the volume of Motorway traffic is estimated to have risen more rapidly in Scotland than in Great Britain.

3.4 Over the past ten years, the number of people who were killed or seriously injured in road accidents fell more rapidly in Scotland than in Great Britain: compared with 1991, the number in 2001 was 39% lower in Scotland and 28% lower in Great Britain. However, the number of people killed or seriously injured per head of population in 2001 was slightly higher in Scotland than in Great Britain (0.73 and 0.70 per thousand, respectively).

3.5 Since 1991-92, the fall in the number of passenger journeys on local bus services has been greater in Scotland (24%) than in Great Britain (8%). However, Figure 7 shows that the usage of local bus services is higher in Scotland than in Great Britain: in 2000-01, 85 journeys were made per head of population in Scotland compared with 74 in Great Britain.

3.6 Figure 8 shows that, per head of population, there are fewer rail passenger journeys originating in Scotland than in Great Britain: 12.8 per head in Scotland in 2001-02, compared with 16.5 per head in Great Britain.

3.7 In the past ten years, the increases in the number of air terminal passengers were about the same for Scotland and the UK as a whole: around 89% between 1991 and 2001. However,

over the past ten years the number of passengers per head of population has been higher for Scotland than for the UK.

3.8 The amount of freight per head of population which is lifted by road is slightly higher in Scotland than in Great Britain, and the amounts per head lifted by coastal shipping and pipelines are significantly greater in Scotland.

3.9 The percentage of people travelling to work who do so by car is slightly lower in Scotland than in Great Britain as a whole, and the percentage using public transport is slightly higher in Scotland than in Great Britain. In Autumn 2001, 69% of people travelling to work in Scotland did so by car (compared with 70% for Great Britain) and 16% used public transport (15% for Great Britain).

4. Notes, Sources and Further Information

4.1 In general, notes on and definitions of these statistics, and details of the sources and where further information may be found, appear at the start of the relevant chapters. This section, therefore, only covers matters which are not dealt with there.

4.2 Coastal shipping: The figures for Scotland cover freight on coastwise voyages for which either the origin or the destination is in Scotland - i.e. all coastwise freight lifted in Scotland plus the coastwise freight lifted elsewhere in the UK which is discharged in Scotland. This definition of coastal shipping excludes foreign, "one port" and inland waterway freight shipping. For historical reasons, the definition used for the "coastal shipping" series differs from the definitions which are used for the water transport statistics in chapter 10. The figures were provided by Mr John Ryan, Department for Transport (tel: 0207 944 4443) who can provide further information about them.

4.3 Pipelines: Apart from the figures for GB for 1993 and earlier years, the estimates are of the total carried by pipelines which are at least 50 km in length and which carry crude oil or products. ("Length 50+ km" is the definition which is used for international comparisons.) The figures for Scotland are the totals for pipelines which start in Scotland. The estimates are produced by the Department of Trade and Industry, based upon information which it obtains from pipeline operators. In cases where DTI cannot obtain any figures for the most recent year(s), it assumes (for the purpose of producing these estimates) that each of the pipelines concerned continued to carry the same amount as in the latest year for which a figure for it was provided to DTI. The estimates were supplied by Mr Ian Corrie, DTI (tel: 0207 215 2714), who can provide further information about them.

4.4 Figures for Great Britain (or the UK): Occasionally, the figures given for Great Britain (or for the UK as a whole) are on a different basis from the figures for Scotland. This is generally because the figures for Scotland that have been published for many years in "Scottish Transport Statistics" are, for historical reasons, on a different basis from that used for the most readily available (or most often quoted) figures for Great Britain (or the UK), and we do not wish to publish here GB/UK figures which are on a different basis from those normally used, as that could cause confusion. Such differences in the bases of the figures for Scotland and GB/UK should not prevent their use in a broad comparison of the trends.

< Previous | Contents | Next >