4. How are people travelling?
Just over half of all journeys in 2007/2008 were as a driver and over a third were by sustainable modes of transport, which includes walking and public transport.
Figure 5: Mode of journey, 2007/2008
Gender and Age
4.1 Mode choice varied greatly by gender; 57 per cent of men chose driving as their main mode of transport, compared with only 43 per cent of women. However, women were twice as likely to be a passenger than their male counterparts (18 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively). Women were also more likely to travel by sustainable modes of transport than men; in particular, walking and using the bus. [ Table 14, Figure 6]
Figure 6: Differences between the genders, 2007/2008
4.2 Figure 6 clearly shows the impact of including short journeys into the 2007 & 2008 Travel Diary collection. Walking journeys have increased sharply from around 14% of all journeys to around 22%. This has the obvious effect of reducing the proportion of journeys carried out by other modes. Further analysis of the changes to the 2007 Travel Diary will be available on our website in due course.
Figure 7: Changes in bus, walking and passenger journeys, 1999-2008
4.3 For all age groups, apart from the youngest (16 to 19 year olds) and oldest (80 and over), the most popular mode of transport was as a driver. At least half of all journeys made by those aged between 30 and 69 were as a driver. The most common mode of transport for adults under 20 and those over 80 was walking. [Figure 8]
Figure 8: Journeys reported by adults (16+) - main mode of travel by age, 2007/2008
Income and Employment
4.4 Three quarters of self-employed respondents reported driving as their main mode of transport, with only 14 per cent choosing walking. In contrast, almost half (46 per cent) of those unemployed and seeking work stated walking as their main mode of transport, with 23 per cent driving. [ Table 14]
4.5 Annual net household income is correlated with mode of transport. The higher the annual net household income the greater the percentage of respondents who reported driving and the lower the percentage who reported walking or using the bus as the main mode of transport. In particular, households with greater than £25,000 per annum were half as likely to use the bus as those earning between £20,0000 and £25,000 per annum.
Area Type
4.6 The same overall pattern can be seen within the SIMD quintiles. The more deprived the area the lower the percentage of driver journeys, and the higher the percentage of walking and bus journeys.
4.7 Respondents in large urban areas were twice as likely to walk as those in accessible rural towns (26 per cent and 13 per cent respectively). The largest proportion of journeys by car were in accessible rural towns (80 per cent) compared to the smallest proportion of car journeys in large urban areas (53 per cent).
Car Access and Ownership
4.8 Availability of a car had a significant effect on mode choice, with 80 per cent of those with no cars choosing sustainable modes of transport, particularly walking, compared to only 17 per cent of those with access to more than one car.
4.9 Average car occupancy has decreased over the years, falling from 1.69 in 1999 to 1.59 in 2008 [ Table 7]. This is probably due to the increase in car availability over this period. Car occupancy varies depending on the purpose of the journey. Of all commuting journeys, 85 per cent had only one occupant in the car compared to 55 per cent of journeys for educational purposes. Day of travel is also a significant factor, with average car occupancy rising from 1.53 on weekdays to 1.74 at the weekend. [ Table 23].
Distance
4.10 Journey distance affected people's decisions on method of transport for a journey. Journeys of 10 km or less were far more likely to be taken using sustainable methods of transport than those over 10 km (39 per cent and 14 per cent respectively). Conversely, car journeys, either as a driver or a passenger, were less likely for shorter journeys (10 km or less) than journeys over 10 km (58 per cent compared to 83 per cent). [Figure 9]
Figure 9: Main method by distance, 2007/2008
4.11 Over half (53 per cent) of all driver journeys were less than 5 km, with 28 per cent less than 2 km. Half of all rail journeys were over 30 km compared to only 6 per cent of bus journeys. [ Table 18].
4.12 The average (mean) distance of each journey was 10 km but half of all journeys were 3 km or less (median). In fact, 40 per cent of journeys were less than 2 km and almost 90% of all walking journeys were less than 2 km.