Scotland's People Annual Report: Results from 2013 Scottish Household Survey: Revised October 2015

7 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 plays an important role in achieving the Scottish Government's overall Purpose^[68] : 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, these are: reduce traffic congestion; and, increase the proportion of journeys to work made by public or active transport.

Transport Scotland publishes the Transport and Travel in Scotland (TATIS) annual publication^[69]. TATIS includes information on households' access to cars and bikes, frequency of driving, modes of travel to work and school (including an update to the National Indicator), use and opinions of public transport and access to services. From 2014 onwards, TATIS will also include the SHS Travel Diary, covering information about travel by adults, including journey purposes and the means of transport used amongst others, as well as an update to the congestion National Indicator.

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.^[70] 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.

Main Findings

• Seven in ten (70 per cent) households have a car available for private use, with those living in rural areas more likely to own at least one car (87 per cent in remote rural areas compared to 60 per cent in large urban areas).
• Car availability is strongly associated with income: in those households with a net annual household income of over £40,000, almost all households (97 per cent) have access to at least one car, whilst around half of households with an income of £15,000 or less do not have access to a car at all.
• The number of cars that households have access to has been relatively stable since 2005. Both 2012 and 2013 figures suggest that there may be a slight increase in the proportion of households that have three or more cars (5 per cent compared to 4 per cent from 2006 to 2011).
• Overall two-thirds of adults aged 17 and over have a driving licence. In all age groups of 25 and over, more males have driving licences than females. The gap between males and females widens with increasing age.

CARS AND DRIVING

Access to cars

Overall, seven in ten (70 per cent) households in Scotland have access to at least one car (Table 7.1). This varies depending on the type of area an individual resides and household income^[71]. Six in ten (60 per cent) households in large urban areas have access to at least one car compared to nine in ten households in accessible rural and remote rural areas (89 per cent and 87 per cent, respectively). Households in rural areas are more likely to have access to a larger number of cars, with 44 per cent of households in accessible rural areas having access to two or more cars. Differences between rural and urban areas are likely to be due to less frequent/direct public transport services that are available in rural areas.

Table 7.1: Number of cars normally available to the household for private use by Urban Rural Classification

Column percentages, 2013 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	All
No access to cars	40	29	24	24	11	13	30
At least one	60	71	76	76	89	87	70
One	42	45	47	50	44	43	44
Two or more	17	26	29	25	44	44	26
Base	3,570	3,230	970	650	1,150	1,080	10,650

Car availability is strongly associated with income; the higher a household's income the higher likelihood it will have access to at least one car. It is extremely common for households with higher incomes to have access to at least one car. Ninety seven per cent of households with net annual income of £40,000 or more have access to at least one car. In contrast, around half of households with an income of £15,000 or less do not have access to a car at all. This means that fewer households from groups with below average income levels^[72] (such as single adults/parents/pensioners) have access to a car.

Table 7.2: Number of cars normally available to the household for private use by net annual household income

Column percentages, 2013 data

Households	£0 - £6,000	£6,001 - £10,000	£10,001 - £15,000	£15,001 - £20,000	£20,001 - £25,000	£25,001 - £30,000	£30,001 - £40,000	£40,001+	All
No access to cars	56	63	52	37	21	12	7	3	29
At least one	44	37	48	63	79	88	93	97	71
One	41	32	39	50	60	59	47	31	44
Two or more	3	5	9	12	19	29	46	65	26
Base	320	1,060	1,960	1,620	1,250	1,000	1,380	1,740	10,320

Excludes refusals/don't know responses

The level of deprivation in an area is also associated with access to cars, shown in Figure 7.1. Over half (56 per cent) of households in the 15 per cent most deprived areas of Scotland^[73] have no access to cars compared with a quarter (25 per cent) of households in the rest of Scotland. This difference is more pronounced when looking at households with two or more cars with only one in ten (9 per cent) of households in the 15 per cent most deprived areas of Scotland with two or more cars compared to three in ten (29 per cent) of households in the rest of Scotland. Part of the reason behind these findings will be the link between multiple deprivation and the urban rural classification, i.e. most areas in the 15 per cent most deprived are urban areas.

Figure 7.1: Number of cars normally available to the household for private use by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

2013 data, Households (base: 10,650; minimum: 1,530)

Figure 7.2 shows the changes in car availability over time. In the 14 years to 2013 the proportion of households with no access to cars has fallen by 7 percentage points (from 37 per cent to 30 per cent). This is balanced against the rise in households with access to two cars (rising from 15 per cent in 1999 to 21 per cent in 2013). Most of the change occurred between 1999 and 2005, and the proportions have been relatively stable since.

Figure 7.2: Household car access by year

1999-2013 data, Household (2013 base: 10,650)

Driving licences

Figure 7.3 shows that there is a gap between older males and females with ownership of driving licences – the data including all adults is also shown in Table 7.3. This shows that around two-thirds (68 per cent) of adults hold a full driving licence, with a higher proportion of males (76 per cent) holding a licence compared to females (62 per cent). Between the ages of 17 and 24 there is no difference in the proportion of adults that have driving licences. However, as age increases there is a large gap as a higher proportion of males hold driving licences than women in all age groups. There is also a dramatic fall in the 75 and over age group where only one in three (31 per cent) women hold driving licences compared to around double that proportion (71 per cent) of males.

Table 7.3: Proportion of adults with driving licences by gender and age

Percentages, 2013 data

	17 to 24	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 59	60 to 74	75+	All
Male	41	73	84	87	83	71	76
Female	40	63	76	73	60	36	61
All	40	68	80	80	71	50	68
Base (minimum)	330	560	680	1,240	1,070	520	4,410

Figure 7.3: Adults who hold a full driving license by gender within age

2013 data, Adults aged 17 and over (base: 4,410; minimum: 330)