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Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary 2007-2008
09/09/2009
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published the Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary: 2007/2008. This statistical bulletin presents analyses of journeys made by adults across Scotland.
Main Findings
Men were more likely to drive
- Around 57 per cent of men reported driving on the previous day, compared to 43 per cent women.
- Women were also much more likely to be a passenger than their male counterparts (18 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively).
The majority of all commuting car journeys had only one occupant in the car
- Around 63 per cent of all commuting journeys were as a driver of a car or van, compared to only 19 per cent for educational purposes.
- Of all car commuting journeys, 85 per cent had only one occupant in the car/van.
13 per cent of driver journeys were delayed by congestion - compared to 14 per cent in 2007
- Around a quarter of journeys during peak times (7am - 9am & 4pm - 6pm) were delayed by congestion.
The majority of journeys (64 per cent) were less than 5 km
- In 2007-08, the average (mean) journey distance was 10 km, compared to a median of only 3 km.
- This showed that half of all journeys were 3 km or less; in fact 40 per cent were less than 2 km.
- Over half (53 per cent) of all driver journeys were less than 5km with 28 per cent less than 2km.
Car usage increased with income; bus usage decreased
- 65 per cent of journeys reported by high income households (net income over £40,000 p.a.) were driven, compared to 28 per cent of journeys made by those in low income households (up to £10,000 p.a.).
- Correspondingly, only 4 per cent of journeys made by high income households were by bus, compared to 16 per cent of respondents in low income households.
Most journeys were driven
- Half of all journeys in 2007-08 were driven and over a third (34 per cent) were by sustainable modes of transport, which includes walking and public transport.
The SHS Travel Diary involves interviews with about 10,000 households across Scotland each year and covers journeys made the previous day. Like any survey the results may vary from year to year depending upon the composition of the sample.
The SHS Travel Diary covers travel for personal purposes. This includes commuting and journeys in the course of work (e.g. to/from a meeting) for which the purpose is for the traveller to reach a destination. However, it does not cover travel in the course of their work by people who are employed (e.g.) to drive buses or lorries, to deliver letters or parcels, or as police officers, traffic wardens, etc.
Scottish Household Survey data uses an improved weighting methodology which has incureed small revisions to the time series without changing the overall trend.
The Travel Diary format changed slightly from 2007 onwards. Therefore some time series data may not be strictly comparable. These changes are:
- The inclusion of short journeys (less than ¼ mile or 5 minutes on foot)
- Improvements to the questionnaire wording - to reduce under recording
- Improvments to quality assessment of the data
- A reduction in sample size - only 75 per cent of the main SHS sample are now asked the Travel Diary questions.