Scotland's People Annual report: Results from 2009/2010 Scottish Household Survey

8 Transport and Travel

Introduction and context

An efficient transport system is essential to Scotland's economy, communities, environment, health and general well-being. Transport is important to everybody in Scotland, allowing them to reach workplaces or schools, have access to shops or services, visit friends and family and enjoy leisure services. Improving transport and the associated transport choices in Scotland will play an important role in achieving the Scottish Government's overall Purpose: ^[53]to focus Government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.

Two key transport National Indicators that are used to measure Government progress use Scottish Household Survey ( SHS) data:

• Increasing journeys to work made by active or public travel (available via the Transport and Travel in Scotland publication);
• Reducing the proportion of journeys delayed through congestion (available via the Travel Diary publication).

Transport Scotland publishes the SHS transport and travel data directly. The Transport and Travel in Scotland publication ^[54] will include information on households' access to cars and bikes, frequency of driving, modes of travel to work and school, use and opinions of public transport and access to services. Transport and Travel in Scotland 2010 is scheduled for publication 31 ^st August 2011. The SHS Travel Diary ^[55] information will be published in November 2011.

The SHS also provides a range of other transport-related information that can be used to understand travel patterns and choices across Scotland as well as monitoring progress on Scotland's Transport Strategy. ^[56] This sets out current policy which aims to improve journey times and connections, reduce emissions, and improve the quality, accessibility and affordability of transport.

This chapter focuses on the number of cars available to households and possession of driving licenses.

Cars and Driving

Access to cars

Overall, seventy per cent of households in Scotland have access to at least one car (Table 8.1). However, this varies depending on a number of factors, such as the type of area an individual resides, or their level of income. Four-in-ten (40%) households in large urban areas do not have access to a car compared to only 15% of households in remote rural areas and 13% in accessible rural areas. Those households in rural areas are also more likely to have access to a larger number of cars, with 43% of households in accessible rural areas having access to two or more cars. This difference may be due to less frequent/direct public transport services that are available in rural areas.

Table 8.1: Number of cars normally available to the household for private use by Urban Rural Classification
Column percentages, 2009/2010 data

Car availability is also strongly associated with income; the higher a household's income the higher the probability it will have access to at least one car. Indeed, in those households with a net annual household income of over £25,000 over nine in ten households have access to at least one car. Ninety eight per cent of households with an income greater than £40,000 have access to at least one car. In contrast, at least half of households with an income of £15,000 or below do not have access to a car at all. This means that fewer households from groups with below average income levels (such as single adults/parents/pensioners) have access to a car.

Table 8.2: Number of cars normally available to the household for private use by net annual household income
Column percentages, 2009/2010 data

Household income in the SHS is that of the highest income householder and their partner only. Includes all adults for whom household income is known or has been imputed. Excludes refusals/don't know responses.

There are clear links between access to a car and the level of deprivation of an area which are shown in Figure 8.1. Forty four per cent of households in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland ^[57] have at least one car available to them compared with around three-quarters (74%) in the rest of Scotland. This difference becomes more pronounced when looking at households with two or more cars; less than one-in-ten households (8%) in the 15% most deprived areas have two or more cars available to them compared with almost three-in-ten (29%) in the rest of Scotland.

Figure 8.1: Number of cars normally available to the household for private use by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation
2009/2010 data, Households (base: 28,385)

Figure 8.2 shows the changes in car availability over time. Over the period 1999 to 2010 the proportion of households having no access to a car had declined steadily - 37% of households in 1999 did not have access to a car compared to 30% in 2010. Those households with access to just one car has remained relatively stable over the past decade, particularly since 2005 when it has remained at 44%. In contrast there has been a general increasing trend of households with access to a larger number of cars, with those with access to two cars increasing from 15% in 1999 through to 22% in 2010. Those with access to three or more cars has also increased over that period, with current estimates at 4%.

This demonstrates that the overall increase in the number of cars on Scotland's roads has arisen from a widening of availability of access to more households coupled with an increase in multi-car ownership.

Figure 8.2: Household car access by year

Driving licences

As Figure 8.3 shows, just over two-thirds (68%) of adults hold a full driving licence with a higher proportion of males (76%) holding a licence as compared to females (60%). The percentage with a full licence peaks for females within the 35 and 44 age group (77%) and for males between the ages of 35 and 59 (85%). There are significant differences between driving licence possession amongst most age groups for males and females (in fact, all except 17-24 year olds), however these are most pronounced in those aged 60 and over. Around one in four females aged over 75 have a licence compared with 67% of males.

Figure 8.3: Adults who hold a full driving license by gender within age
2009/2010 data, Adults aged 17 and over (base: 24,808)