Baseline survey for under 22s free bus travel evaluation: FOI release

Information requested

1. How much did the survey cost? How much are Wellside Research and Stantec receiving for this work? What is the total expenditure on the survey?

2. Please provide any internal and external emails or correspondence regarding the selection of questions for the survey in particular to do with the question on sexual orientation.

3. Please provide details of how many complaints were received about the question on sexuality as of the date of receipt of this email.

Response

Please find below information requested relating to the baseline survey for under 22s free bus travel evaluation.

1. How much did the survey cost? How much are Wellside Research and Stantec receiving for this work? What is the total expenditure on the survey?

Answer: The survey is part of a wider research project to gather baseline data from those under the age of 22 on their travel behaviour and use of bus prior to the introduction of free bus travel for this age group. The specific expenditure of the online survey cannot be disaggregated from the cost of the overall research project. The total cost of the overall research project which includes secondary data collation and analysis, the survey, a draft report, and a final report is £42,868.50 (ex VAT).

2. Please provide any internal and external emails or correspondence regarding the selection of questions for the survey in particular to do with the question on sexual orientation.

Answer: Anonymised correspondence on the inclusion of questions, including on sexual orientation, is attached.

3. Please provide details of how many complaints were received about the question on sexuality as of the date of receipt of this email.

Answer: To date, three queries regarding the sexual orientation question have been received. The survey has had over 17,000 responses.

Notes:
As per previous correspondence, baseline data collection will provide an assessment of current travel behaviour, attitudes and perceptions of travel prior to the scheme’s starting on 31 January 2022 to inform future evaluation activity of the scheme.

The question on sexual orientation only applies to young people aged 16 and over and there is an option not to answer. Of those eligible to answer this question, 85% identify their sexual orientation with 15% saying they would prefer not to say or opting not to answer the question.

We ask this question as part of our baseline survey as we want to understand if there are any barriers for young people from protected characteristics accessing public transport. Our initial research identified LGBTQ+ young people might be less inclined to use the bus for fear of homophobic and transphobic harassment.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI - 202200276597 - Information Released - Annex

File type

10 page PDF

File size

3.9 MB