Statistical Bulletin Trn/2005/2
Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary results for 2003
5.1 Journey distances
5.1.1 The distances analysed in this publication are estimated "straight-line" or "as the crow flies" distances between origins and destinations, calculated using grid references obtained from the origin and destination postcodes. This means that the results may not reflect the true distance travelled, as a typical journey is unlikely to be in a straight line. Section A5 explains in more detail the calculation of journey distance. It should also be remembered that the interviewer says there is no need to mention any journeys, or stages of journeys, which were less than a quarter of a mile, or less than five minutes on foot. Table 6 shows banded journey distance for 2003: 17% of reported journeys were less than 1km and 16% of journeys were at least 1km but less than 2 km long. 5% of journeys were 40 km and over. Distance travelled varied with sex: 15% of journeys by men were less than 1 km compared with 19% of journeys by women. There was also variation in journey distance with age-group. 14-19% of journeys by 20-69 year olds were of less than 1 km compared with 28% of journeys made by people aged 80+.
5.1.2 Unsurprisingly, journey distance varies greatly with the main mode of transport. Walking journeys were short with 56% of walking journeys being less than 1 km and a further 26% being at least 1km but less than 2 km. Bicycle and taxi/minicab journeys also tend to be short, with 18% of bicycle journeys being less than 1 km and a further 29% being at least 1 but less than 2 km (but as there are only a small number of bicycle journeys in the sample for 2003, these percentages may only be approximate). 17% of taxi/minicab journeys were less than 1 km and a further 30% were at least 1 but less than 2 km. Rail journeys tended to be longer with 29% being 20 km to less than 40km and a further 22% being 40 km and over (although the number of rail journeys in the sample is also small). Driving journeys by car or van are more evenly spread by distance, ranging from 11% being less than 1km, through 20% being at least 5km but less than 10km, to 5% being 40 km and over. Charts C to E show the distribution of journeys by distance for each mode of transport. Similarly, there is variation with the purpose of the journey. Journeys for business purposes seem to be longest with 25% being 40 km and over, and for holidays or day trips (16%), compared with 5% of all journeys.
5.1.3 Journey distance varies with the economic status of the adults interviewed. Those who are self-employed or in full-time employment seem to travel longer distances, with 12-15% of their journeys being less than 1 km, and 6-7% over 40 km. This differs from those who are unemployed and seeking work (24% of their journeys are under 1 km) or looking after the home and family (25% of their journeys are less than 1 km) or permanently sick or disabled (30% of their journeys are under 1 km). Journey distance also varies with socio-economic classification, with shorter journeys being made by those in routine or semi-routine occupations (17-18% of their journeys are less than 1 km) compared with journeys made by adults in other occupations (12-14%).
5.1.4 Journey distance also varies with annual net household income. Shorter journeys tend to be made by adults in households with an annual net income of up to 10,000 (25% of their journeys under 1km and only 3% of their journeys are 40 km and over). This compares with those adults living in households in the "over 40,000" income band (11% of their journeys are less than 1km and 6% of their journeys are 40 km and over).
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5.1.5 Journey distance varies slightly with the level of deprivation of the area in which the respondent lives. 20-21% of journeys made by adults living in the most deprived 40% of areas of Scotland are of less than 1 km, compared to 14-16% of journeys made by adults living in the remaining 60% of areas. Much greater variation is shown in journey distance between different types of area, using the SHS urban / rural classification. 3% of journeys made by adults who live in large urban areas are over 40 km compared with 6% of journeys by those living in remote small towns and 7-8% by those living in rural areas. There was not much difference in the percentage of journeys of less than 1 km for those adults living in urban areas, "accessible" small towns and "remote" rural areas (16-19%). However, 40% of journeys by adults in "remote" small towns were less than 1 km, compared with only 10% of journeys by those in "accessible" rural areas.
5.1.6 The bottom part of Table 6 shows that there is not much variation in journey distance between the five years - at most one or two percentage points, and due to the fact that distance is estimated rather roughly (i.e. from "centres" of postcodes to get straight line "as the crow flies" distances), one should not read too much into any apparent trends.
5.2
Journey distances: summary statistics5.2.1 Table 7 shows some summary statistics for journey distance in 2003, again based on "straight-line" distances between origins and destinations. See section A5 for more detail on the calculation of journey distance. Again, it should be remembered that the interviewer says there is no need to mention any journeys, or stages of journeys, which were less than a quarter of a mile, or less than five minutes on foot. Table 7 shows the average (arithmetic mean) distance for each group and also shows the median distance, as the latter is more like a "typical" distance for each group. The median is the middle value: half the journeys in the group will have a distance no greater than the median, and half will be no less than the median. The average (arithmetic mean) might give a misleading impression due to the effect of a small proportion of journeys with extremely large distances on the calculation of the average. The overall average (mean) journey distance is over 10 km, whereas the median distance is only about 3.8 km.
5.2.2 Men's journeys had a median length of 4.4 km and women's a median of 3.4 km. There was more variation in median distance by age: 16-19 year olds' journeys had a median of 3.1 km, 70-79 year olds' journeys had a median of 2.9 km, and those aged 80+ who had a median of 1.9 km, compared to those in the 30-59 age-groups whose journeys had medians of over 4 km. The median journey distance travelled varies greatly by main mode: less than 1 km for walking journeys, slightly over 5 km for journeys by car or van, and about 20 km for rail journeys (as the number of rail journeys in the sample was only 316, this result may only be approximate). There were also differences in the median distance travelled by journey purpose: a median of about 13 km for business journeys compared with about 5 km for commuting journeys and less than 3 km for shopping trips.
Chart F shows that the median and average distances travelled tend, generally, to increase with annual net household income.
5.2.3 Table 7 also shows quartiles and deciles. The lower quartile for the distance travelled is about 1.5 km (the 25% value: 25% of journeys were shorter than or equal to the lower quartile). The upper quartile for journey distance is about 10.3 km (this is the upper 25% value: 25% of journeys were longer than or equal to the upper quartile). Therefore, the average journey distance is much closer to the upper quartile than it is to the median. The upper and lower deciles, which provide "boundaries" for the lowest and highest 10%, are less than 1 km (the lower decile) and about 24 km (the upper decile). Table 7 shows that 25% of journeys by car or van were of length 2.1 km or less, and about 25% were of length about 13 km or more.
5.2.4 The second page of
Table 7 shows that the median distance of journeys in rural areas is about 8 km in contrast with a median of about 3 km in urban areas. There was little change in the overall median distance travelled over the 5 years of the survey.