1. Main Points
1.1 The National Travel Survey results for the two year period 2004/2005 suggest that an average Scottish resident travelled around 7,332 miles per year (or about 20 miles per day) within Great Britain. This is much more than twenty or thirty years earlier: since 1985/1986, this average has risen by more than 2,500 miles (58%); and there has been an increase of over 3,000 miles (75%) since 1975/1976. The main cause of this increase does not appear to be people travelling more often (the average number of trips per person per year has risen by only 15% since 1975/1976), but people going further when they do travel (the average length of a trip was 53% higher in 2004/2005 than in 1975/1976). However, there appears to have been only a slight increase since the mid-1990s, but this could be the result of sampling fluctuations.
1.2 The average time spent travelling per person increased by 17% from 289 hours per year (or 48 minutes per day) in 1975/1976 to 339 hours per year (56 minutes per day) in 2004/2005. However, there has been little change since the mid-1990s. The average duration of a trip has remained around 20 minutes throughout the period since 1975/1976.
1.3 In 2004/2005, cars alone accounted for almost three quarters (74%: over 5,400 miles) of the total distance travelled per person. No other mode of travel accounted for more than 10%: "local bus" had the next highest share (6%: 436 miles), followed by "surface rail" (6%: 420 miles). On average, people walked 196 miles and cycled 26 miles per year in 2004/2005. Cars alone accounted for 90% of the increase since 1985/1986 in the average distance travelled per person per year.
1.4 Between 1985/1986 and 2004/2005, there were large increases in the average numbers of trips per person made as a car driver (up 78%) or as a car passenger (up 47%), and large falls for walking (down 42%) and local bus (down 28%).
1.5 In 2004/2005, 73% of all trips of under a mile were made by foot, and 23% were made by car. In the case of all trips of under 2 miles, 54% were made by foot and 39% by car.
1.6 In 2004/2005 shopping was the most frequent purpose of travel accounting for 20% of the average of 1,014 trips per person per year. Commuting accounted for 17% of trips and visiting friends at home accounted for 12% of trips.
Chart A: Annual averages per person
"95% confidence ranges" for "miles travelled", where available
Chart B: Percentages with a full driving licence
1.7 Between 1985/1986 and 2004/2005, the average distance travelled per person rose by 87% for shopping trips, by 86% for "other personal business", by 56% for business and by 55% for holidays and day trips. Over the same period, the average trip length rose from 4.8 miles to 7.2 miles, the average length of commuting trips increased from 5.4 miles to 8.1 miles, and for shopping trips there was a rise from 2.9 miles to 4.9 miles.
1.8 People in households with access to cars averaged 7% more than the overall average number of trips per person per year; people in households without a car averaged 25% fewer trips than the overall average.
1.9 Men made around the same number of trips, on average than women, but travelled, on average, 34% further. "Car driver" was the main mode of travel for men, accounting for 66% of the distance they covered in 2004/2005, compared with only 42% of the distance travelled by women. Women travelled further than men as car passengers and by local bus. Commuting/business was the purpose of 29% of trips by men but only 20% for women; shopping accounted for 26% of trips by women but only 21% for men.
1.10 Since 1985/1986, the average distance travelled per person has risen for all age groups and for each sex. The percentage increases have been greater for women than men, and they have been greatest for those aged 60+ for both sexes. Over the past ten years, the numbers of trips made by men and women have been about the same; prior to that, men made more trips than women, on average.
1.11 The percentage of pupils walking to school fell from 69% in 1985/1986 to 54% in 2004/2005. Over the same period, the percentage of pupils going by car rose from 6% to 23%.