Statistical Bulletin Trn/2005/2
Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary results for 2003
1. Main points
1.1 About 70% of adults' reported journeys in 2003 were by car or van: 54% as a driver, and 16% as a passenger. 16% were by foot, 10% were bus journeys, 2% were taxi/minicab journeys and 1% were by rail ( paragraph 4.3.1).
1.2 The modes of travel differed between the sexes: 63% of journeys by men were as a driver of a car or van compared with 46% of journeys by women, and 22% of journeys by women were as a passenger in a car or van in contrast to 9% of journeys by men ( paragraph 4.3.1).
1.3 There were also big differences between age groups: the main mode was as a driver of a car or van for 16% of journeys by adults in the 16-19 age group and 22% of journeys by people aged 80+, compared with 59-66% of journeys by adults in the 30-59 age-groups ( paragraph 4.3.2).
1.4 The modes of travel varied with the purpose of the journey. In 2003, 60% of commuting journeys were as a driver of a car or van, as were 69% of escort journeys and 77% of business journeys compared with only 30% of journeys by adults going out to eat or drink and 34% of adults' journeys to and from education ( paragraph 4.3.3).
1.5 The percentage of journeys made by foot was 18-19% for those in routine or semi-routine occupations, compared to 8-12% for those in other occupations. Also, the percentage of journeys which were made as a driver of a car or van rose from 33% for adults in households with an annual net income of up to 10,000 p.a. to 71% for adults in the "over 40,000" band ( paragraph 4.3.4).
1.6 And there were marked differences between different types of area: 24% of journeys made by residents of the most deprived 20% of areas of Scotland were on foot, compared to 11-13% in the least deprived 60% of areas; 43% of journeys by adults who lived in large urban areas were made as the driver of a car/van, compared with 70-73% for those who lived in rural areas ( paragraph 4.3.5).
1.7 The proportion of reported journeys made as the driver of a car has increased slightly each year, from 49.9% in 1999 to 53.9% in 2003. The proportion of journeys made on foot has decreased from 19.5% in 1999 to 15.6% in 2003 ( paragraph 4.3.7).
1.8 Overall, most adults' journeys reported in 2003 were for commuting (25%) or shopping (23%). There was some variation with sex: 26% of journeys by women were for the purpose of shopping compared with 19% of men's journeys. Commuting was the purpose of 29% of journeys by men, and 23% of women's journeys ( paragraph 4.4.1). Self-employed people made 14% of their journeys in the course of business ( paragraph 4.4.2).
1.9 A third of adults' reported journeys were less than 2 km "as the crow files": 17% of reported journeys were less than 1 km, and 16% of journeys were at least 1 km but less than 2 km long, whereas only 5% of journeys were 40 km and over ( paragraph 5.1.1).
1.10 In 2003, the overall average (mean) journey distance was over 10 km, whereas the median distance was only about 3.8 km: i.e. half of all journeys were about 3.8 km or less. ( paragraph 5.2.1).
1.11 The median distance travelled varied with journey purpose: it was about 13 km for business journeys compared with about 5 km for commuting journeys and less than 3 km for shopping trips ( paragraph 5.2.2). And, the median distances for journeys made by adults who lived in rural areas were about 8 km, markedly higher than the about 3 km for journeys by residents of urban areas ( paragraph 5.2.4).
1.12 There were slightly fewer journeys on Sundays (12% of journeys) compared with 13-16% of journeys on each of the other days of the week (paragraph 4.2.1). There were proportionally more shopping journeys on a Saturday (21% of all shopping journeys compared with 12-16% on each of the other days), and more journeys to visit friends and relatives at the weekends: 17% on Saturdays and 21% on Sundays compared with 11-15% on each of the other days of the week ( paragraph 4.2.3).
1.13 People of different ages tend to travel at different times of the day. For example, around 16-19% of journeys by adults in the 16-59 age-groups started between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. compared with 7-12% for people aged 60+. About three-quarters of journeys by the over 80s started between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. compared with about half of all journeys by all adults ( paragraph 6.1.1). Journey start time also varies with the purpose of the journey. About a third of journeys for the purposes of "commuting", "business" and "education" started between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. compared with much smaller percentages for other purposes ( paragraph 6.1.2).
1.14 There were considerable differences in reported journey duration between the main modes of travel: for example, in 2003, 32% of walking journeys, 27% of cycling journeys, 23-29% of car or van journeys and 45% of taxi/minicab journeys took 5 to 10 minutes compared with 9% of bus journeys ( paragraph 6.2.1). There was also variation with the purpose and start time of the journey: 23% of business journeys were over 3 hours long compared with 2% of all journeys, and 8% of journeys starting before 7am took 3 hours and over, compared with 0-1% of journeys starting from 2 p.m. onwards ( paragraph 6.2.2).
1.15 60% of car or van drivers' journeys were made unaccompanied. 27% were made with two people in the car ( paragraph 7.1). The average number of occupants of a car driven by someone looking after the home or family was 2.1, compared to 1.5 to 1.9 for drivers in other situations (paragraph 7.3). 85% of commuting journeys made as the driver of a car or van were unaccompanied ( paragraph 7.4). For 79% of all car or van drivers' journeys starting before 7 a.m., and 73% starting between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., the driver was the sole occupant of the vehicle ( paragraph 7.5). The proportion of journeys made as the driver of a car in which the person was unaccompanied has increased slightly each year, from 55.5% in 1999 to 59.8% in 2003 ( paragraph 7.6).
1.16 Congestion on the roads was worst in the morning before 9 a.m., and in the early evening: 24% of car drivers' journeys which started between 8:00 and 8:59 a.m. on a weekday reportedly suffered delays due to congestion, as did 19-21% of such journeys started between 7:00 and 7:59 a.m. and between 4:00 and 5:59 p.m. Traffic congestion delayed only 2-3% of car drivers' journeys made by people residing in "remote" small towns and "remote" rural areas, compared to 14% of journeys by drivers living in large urban areas ( paragraph 8.2).
1.17 11% of bus or rail journeys which started between 7:00 and 9:30 a.m. on a weekday suffered delays, as did 15% of such journeys started between 4:30 and 6:29 p.m. ( paragraph 9.2). 46% of bus journey delays were said to be caused by congestion on the roads, and 28% by the bus arriving late ( paragraph 9.3).
1.18 In 2003, one third of all time spent driving on the road on a weekday was for the purpose of getting to or from work. 14% of time spent on the road during the week was for journeys made during the course of work, 16% was for the purpose of shopping, 8% was for visiting friends or relatives, and 7% was for escort journeys ( paragraph 12.1). Over two-thirds of cars on the road between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m. on a weekday were being driven to or from work ( paragraph 12.2).
1.19 Most journeys were made within the same Council area, or group of areas. The percentages travelling to another area are largest in and around Edinburgh and Glasgow: for example, 18% of adults' journeys starting in the Lothians (East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian, taken together) are into Edinburgh ( paragraph 13.1.2); 38% of employed people living in the Lothians who commute work in Edinburgh ( paragraph 13.2.2); and only 52% of people who work in Glasgow live in Glasgow ( paragraph 13.2.3). Most journeys into both cities are made by car. The percentages travelling by bus and rail into the cities are higher for Glasgow than Edinburgh (paragraphs 13.3.6 and 13.3.7).