This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Car remains king in realm of travel
26/02/2002
Differences in how, why and when people travel, are shown in a new Executive statistical bulletin, the Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary.
The main findings, from interviews conducted throughout 1999 and 2000, include -
Commuting (23%) and shopping (23%) are the main purposes for which we travel:
- commuting was the purpose of 25% of journeys reported by men, and 20% of women's journeys
- 26% of journeys by women were for the purpose of shopping compared to 19% of men's journeys.
- self-employed people made 18% of their journeys in the course of business.
Car (or van) is the main mode of transport:
- almost two-thirds of adults' reported journeys were by car or van: 50% as a driver, and 16% as a passenger.
- 19% of journeys were made on foot,
- 10% were bus journeys,
- 2% were taxi/minicab journeys and
- 1% were by rail.
The mode of travel varies between the sexes, and with the purpose of the journey:
- 60% of journeys by men were as a driver of a car or van compared with 42% of journeys by women
- 22% of journeys by women were as a passenger in a car or van in contrast to 10% of journeys by men
- 58% of commuting journeys were as a driver of a car or van
- as were 68% of escort journeys and 72% of business journeys
- compared with only 27% of journeys by people going to eat or drink and 31% of journeys to or from education.
Frequency and time of travel vary with age and journey purpose:
- 75% of adults said that they had made a journey on the previous day.
- the percentage is highest (82%) for those in the 20-29 and 30-39 age-groups, and lowest (40%) for the 80+ age-group.
- around 17% of journeys by adults in the 16-59 age-groups started from 7am to 9:30am compared to 6% for people aged 80+.
- 25% of journeys by 16-19 year olds started from 6:30pm onwards in contrast to 7% of journeys by the over 80's
- 36% of taxi / minicab journeys started after 6:30pm,
- as did 51% of journeys for the purposes of eating or drinking.
Journey distance varies with location, journey purpose and sex:
- half of all journeys were 3.7 km or less (the median distance)
- people who lived in rural areas tended to make longer journeys, with medians of 7.9 km for "accessible" rural areas and 7.3 km for "remote" rural areas.
- business journeys had a median of 9.6 km for compared with 5.1 km for commuting journeys and 2.7 km for shopping trips.
- men's journeys had a median length of 4.2 km and women's a median of 3.2 km.
Weekend travel is different:
- 20% of all shopping journeys were made on Saturdays, as were.
- 24% of taxi/minicab journeys and
- 26% of journeys for the purpose of eating or drinking.
- Sundays have fewer journeys: only 12% of all journeys
- and only 5% of bus journeys and 4% of rail journeys are on a Sunday.