3. Who travels most often(Tables 1 and H; Chart A)
3.1 Variation with age, sex, current situation, etc
3.1.1 The SHS interviewer asks the randomly-chosen adult whether he or she made any journeys or trips out of the house on the day before the interview. Table 1 shows the results. The first row of the table gives the figures for adults in each age group. In 2004, 74% of adults aged 16 to 19 said that they had gone somewhere on the previous day, as did 74% of adults aged 20 to 29, and so on, with the figure for adults of all ages being 69%. It will be seen that the percentage is highest (77%) for those in the 30-39 age-group, and lowest (40%) for the 80+ age-group. The number in italics at the right-hand end of the first row show that these results were produced from the answers given by 14,778 adults. (The sample sizes quoted in all the tables represent the numbers before any re-weighting was done - see paragraphs B3.3 and A4.2. Paragraph A1.2 explains why there may be differences in sample sizes between different parts of a table, and between different tables.)
3.1.2 Subsequent rows of Table 1 show how the likelihood that someone had made a journey on the previous day varied between different groups of people. The first pair of rows gives the figures for men and women of each age-group. Overall, men were slightly more likely to have travelled than women: 71% of men made a journey on the previous day compared with 69% of women. The figure for men is smaller than that for women for only one age-group: 40-49 year olds.
3.1.3 The next block of figures gives information by the current situation (or economic status) of the interviewee. 82% of adults in full-time employment and 76-78% of the self-employed and those in part-time employment made a journey the previous day in contrast to 51% of adults who are permanently sick or disabled, and 55% of those who were permanently retired. The next group of rows shows little variation in the figures by socio-economic classification.
3.1.4 Chart A shows that the likelihood of travelling on the previous day rises with annual net household income. 56% of adults living in a household with an annual net income of up to £10,000 p.a. made a journey on the previous day, rising to 84% of adults living in households with an annual net income of over £40,000.
3.2 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and "urban" and "rural" areas
3.2.1 The next part of Table 1 shows how the position varies between different areas classified according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Further details of this classification are given in section A6. 63% of adults living in the most deprived 20% of areas within Scotland (defined in terms of average incomes, dependency on benefits, health, education, access to services, etc.) made a journey on the previous day, compared to 76% of adults in the least deprived 20% of areas of Scotland.
3.2.2 The next block of figures differentiates between those living in "urban" and "rural" areas, using a six-way classification that was developed for the analysis of the SHS results. In this classification, a "small town" has a population between 3,000 and 9,999, and an area is described as "accessible" if it is within 30 minutes' drive of a settlement with a population of 10,000 or more (otherwise it is described as "remote"). A "large urban area" is a settlement with a population of 125,000 or more. More details of this classification are given in section A6. In 2004, there was not much variation between urban and rural areas: between 65% and 72% of adults living in each type of area said that they had made a journey on the previous day.
Chart A: Adults (16+) who reported travelling on the previous day by annual net household income: 2004
Chart B : Journeys reported by adults (16+) - main mode of travel by purpose: 2004
3.3 Car availability and driving licence possession
3.3.1 As would be expected, the likelihood of travel varies with car availability. In 2004, 72-79% of adults whose household had access to at least one car reported travelling on the previous day, compared to 55% of adults with no car available. A similar relationship is can be seen throughout all age groups shown. Those who hold a full driving licence are more likely to have travelled on the previous day than those who do not; 76% compared to 58%. Again, this pattern is shown throughout the age groups.
3.4 Figures for 1999 to 2004
3.4.1 Table H shows the variation between the six years in the likelihood that someone said that he or she had made a journey on the previous day. Overall, the likelihood of reporting making a journey seemed to be considerably higher in 1999 than in the other years, and the same pattern applies for the two sexes and all age groups. The percentage of adults who reportedly made a journey on the previous day has fallen in almost every year, from 77.9% in 1999, to 69.5% in 2004. The trend is too pronounced to be attributed to year-to-year sampling variability: does it mean that people are tending to go out on fewer days, or might it be due to changes in interviewers behaviour? The first step will be to see whether the data collected by the GB National Travel Survey show a similar pattern.