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Transport Statistcal Bulletin: Trn/2004/1
Household Transport in 2002: some Scottish Household Survey results

Published January 2004
A Scottish Executive National Statistics Publication

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Spreadsheet versions of the tables in this edition

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1. Main points

1.1 In 2002, 68% of commuters said that they travelled to work by car or van (57% as a driver and 11% as a passenger), 13% walked, 12% went by bus, 3% took a train, 1% cycled and 2% used other modes of transport. 62% of men drove to work compared to 52% of women; proportionately more women walked or went by bus than men (paragraph 8.3.1). 69% of commuters who travelled by car or van said that they did so because it was the most convenient form of transport, 30% that it was the quickest method, 13% considered public transport unsuitable, 13% needed a car at work, and 12% said it was the only method available (paragraph 8.3.7)

1.2 47% of those who travelled to work by car or van said that they could use public transport. The main reasons they gave for not doing so were "inconvenient" (53% of this sub group), "takes too long" (36%), "prefer to use own car" (32%) and "no direct route" (23%). For those who said that they could not use public transport the main reasons given why they cannot were: "no direct route" (36% of this sub group), "lack of service" (33%), "inconvenient" (28%), "need a car for work" (21%) and "work unsocial hours" (20%) (paragraph 8.3.8).

1.3 Walking was reported to be the usual method of travel to school in 2002 for 56% of pupils, 22% were said to go by bus (14% by school bus and 8% by ordinary bus), 19% went by car or van, and only 1% cycled to school (paragraph 9.2.1). 24% of primary school age pupils travelled by car, as did 12% of secondary school age pupils (paragraph 9.2.2). 27% of children from "managerial and technical" backgrounds travelled by car or van, compared with only 14% of those from "unskilled" backgrounds (paragraph 9.2.4). It was reported that 66% of pupils who travelled to school by car or van (74% of such primary schoolchildren and 45% of such secondary schoolchildren) could not use public transport: "no service available" was the main reason given why they cannot do so (given for three fifths) and about a third were "too young to travel on their own" (paragraph 9.3.4).

1.4 In 2002, almost two-thirds (65%) of households had one or more cars: very similar to the percentage with one or more motor vehicles (66%) (paragraph 3.1). Car availability rose with income, from 34% of households with an annual net income of under £5,000 to 98% of those with an annual net household income of over £40,000. Only about 50% of "unskilled" households had access to a car compared with 94% of "professional" households (paragraph 3.2.1). 56% of households in large urban areas had a car, compared with 81% of those in "rural" areas (paragraph 3.2.2).

1.5 In 2002, 92% of households had access to the same number of motor vehicles as 12 months previously. 3.3% had fewer available and 4.5% had more available. Under 2% of those with an annual net household income of up to £10,000 had more vehicles available, compared to 7-9% of those with an annual net household income of over £20,000 (paragraph 3.5.3).

1.6 A third of households had one or more bicycles that adults could use. It varied with annual net household income: from one-sixth of households with up to £10,000 per year to two-thirds of those with in excess of £30,000 (paragraph 3.4.1).

1.7 Almost two thirds (64%) of people aged 17+ were said to have a full driving licence in 2002 (paragraph 4.2.1): 76% of men, but only 54% of women (paragraph 4.2.4) and over three quarters of 30-49 year olds (paragraph 4.2.2). 46% of people aged 17+ were said to drive every day (paragraph 4.3.1): 56% of men compared with 36% of women. About three-fifths of people aged between 30 and 49 drove every day (paragraph 4.3.2).

1.8 9% of male drivers said that they drove over 15,000 miles in the previous 12 months, compared to 3% of female drivers (paragraph 4.4.2). The largest proportions driving in excess of 12,000 miles were the self-employed (20%), people in "professional, managerial and technical" households (16-17%), people in households with an annual net income of over £40,000 (19%), and people living in rural areas (16-17%) (paragraph 4.4.3).

1.9 86% of all households were said to be up to 6 minutes walk away from a bus stop, and overall, 22% of householders said that there was a least one bus every 13 minutes. 40% of households in large urban areas said there was at least one bus every 13 minutes in contrast to 2% or fewer of those in small towns and rural areas (paragraph 3.3.1).

1.10 Overall, in 2002, 64% of the adults interviewed had not spent anything on public transport fares in the seven days prior to the interview (paragraph 5.1). For those that did spend money, the average amount spent was £11.65 (paragraph 5.2); £14.09 for men compared to £10.10 for women (paragraph 5.3).

1.11 41% of adults had used a local bus service in the month prior to the interview. 14% had used a train during the same period (paragraph 6.1). 12% of women and 9% of men used the bus every day or almost every day. 30% of 16-19 year olds used the bus every day or almost every day, compared to 7-10% of those aged 30 and above (paragraph 6.2.1). 17% of those living in large urban areas used the bus every day or almost every day, compared with just 1-3% of those in rural areas or "remote" small towns (paragraph 6.2.2).

1.12 71% of bus users felt that bus fares were good value, whereas only 59% of rail users agreed that train fares were good value. 70% of bus users thought that the buses run on time, and 72% stated that they ran when they were needed. Similarly, 69% of rail users said that the trains run on time, and 73% stated that they ran when they were needed (paragraph 6.4.1).

1.13 In 2002, 41% of adults said that they had made a trip of more than a quarter of a mile by foot for pleasure or to keep fit (including walking a dog) in the previous seven days: 44% of men and 39% of women (paragraph 7.2.3). Only 3% of adults said that they had cycled for pleasure or to keep fit in the previous seven days: 4% of men and 2% of women (paragraph 7.3.2).

1.14 In 2002, 12% of adults said that they had a long-standing illness, health problem or disability and had difficulty with one or more of a number of transport related activities, such as walking for at least 10 minutes or using a bus (paragraph 10.2). This increased to 20% of those aged 60-69, 25% of 70-79 year olds, and 39% of people aged 80 and over (paragraph 10.4).

1.15 With results now available from the survey for four years, one can start to see some trends emerging. The changes between 1999 and 2002 include:

• the percentage of households with one or more cars available for private use rose from 62.9% to 65.0% (paragraph 3.2.4);
• the percentage of people aged 17 or over who were said to drive "every day" has increased slightly, from 44.4% to 45.6% (paragraph 4.3.5);
• the percentage of adults who said that they had cycled for pleasure or to keep fit fell from 3.9% to 2.9% (paragraph 7.3.3).

However, it must be remembered that these results are from a sample survey, so some of the apparent trends could be the result of sampling variability. For example, an apparent increase from 1999 to 2002 could arise if, by chance, the 1999 sample under-estimated the true value, and the 2002 sample over-estimated the true value, for the year. All else being equal, the more years for which a trend appears, the more certain it is.

2. Background

2.1 This bulletin provides information, collected by the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) from 1999 to 2002, about the transport facilities available to private households, and about some travel by household members. The topics covered include the availability of cars for private use; estimated annual mileage of motor vehicles; people's possession of driving licences and their frequency of driving; estimated weekly expenditure on public transport fares; people’s use of local bus and train services; people’s views on local bus and train services; people's frequency of walking and cycling; travel to work (including reasons for method used and reasons for not using public transport); travel to school (including reasons for mode choice and reasons for not using public transport); adults with limited mobility and adults with Orange or Blue Badges. Almost all the statistics given here were extracted in November 2003, so will not take account of subsequent revisions to the SHS database. Other bulletins provide information on (e.g.) the kinds of journeys made by adults, and the variation in the patterns of transport and travel across Scotland.

2.2 The SHS collects a wide range of information. Annex 1 lists the topics covered by the survey. Some questions are asked about the household as a whole, and all the people in it; some relate only to one randomly-chosen adult (aged 16 or over) member of the household; and some are asked only about one schoolchild (if there is one in the household). Some questions are answered on behalf of the household by the Highest Income Householder (please see section A.4 of the "Notes and Definitions") or his/her spouse/partner; others are answered by the randomly-chosen adult member of the household on behalf of him/herself. The results are weighted to take account of differences in selection probabilities. As with all such surveys, factors such as sampling variability and non-response bias may affect the results (see section A.12). And, as it is a survey of private households, the SHS does not cover some sections of the population - for example, it does not collect information about many students, such as those who live in halls of residence (see section B.2.3 of the background information about the survey).

2.3 The main changes in this edition are the addition of tables on motor vehicles available for private use (the type of motor vehicle, ownership, and the change in number over the year); motor vehicle mileage; the type of any driving licence held; estimated annual personal driving mileage; expenditure on public transport fares in the previous seven days; frequency of use of local bus services and train services; and users’ views on local bus services and train services. Some tables from the previous edition have not been included for various reasons (e.g. to make way for the new tables, or because the information is no longer collected in the survey, or because the results will not have changed by much from those appearing in a previous edition of this publication). Annex 2 shows which topics have been analysed in each of the Transport Statistics bulletins published to date.

2.4 The main sections of this bulletin present SHS results on a range of topics:

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