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Household Transport in 1999 and 2000: Some Scottish Household Survey results
8 Travel to work - employed adults (16+)(Tables 12 to 14; Charts H,I and J)
8.1 The interviewer puts a series of questions about travel to work to all those randomly-chosen adults whose current situation was described as "self-employed", "employed full-time" or "employed part-time". Therefore, the results described in this section do not apply in the case of any travel to work by people whose current situation was described in some other way. (For example, these questions were not asked of people who were described as "in full-time education", some of whom may, in fact, have part-time jobs.)
8.2 Table 12 and Chart H show that, overall, about one employed adult in every thirteen (7.7%) worked from home in 1999/2000 - but almost 47% of people who were self-employed worked from home. Someone who "works from home" is identified when the interviewer asks for the location of his/her place of work. The term therefore covers both those who work at home and those who work from home (e.g. a plumber whose base is at home, and who each day goes to wherever his services are required).
8.3 Usual means of travel to work: those who do not work from (or at) home
8.3.1 The remaining tables in this section relate to employed adults who do not work from (or at) home. The interviewer asks the person about his/her usual means of travel to work. Table 13 shows that, in 1999/2000, 67% of these employed adults said that they usually travelled to work by car or van (56% as the driver and 11% as a passenger), 14% walked to work, 12% went by bus, 3% took a train (including the Glasgow Underground), 2% cycled and 3% used other modes of transport (such as a motorcycle or a taxi). The percentage who drove to work was higher for men (62%) than women (50%); a greater percentage of women than men walked (17% against 10%) or went by bus (15% against 9%). There was very little variation between the overall figures for 1999 and 2000.
8.3.2 A car or van was the usual means of travel to work of the majority for almost every age-group: the only apparent exception was for people aged 16-19, where the underlying sample numbers are small. Over 70% of the self-employed, and 70% of those employed full-time, travelled by car or van, but only 56% of those employed part-time did so (almost a quarter of those employed part-time walked to work, and 16% took a bus).
8.3.3 Table 13 and Chart I also show how the means of travel to work varied with the social class of the person (this is based on his/her occupation, and so may differ from that of the Highest Income Householder). Again, a car or van was used by the majority in every social class apart from the "unskilled occupations" group. Around 70% or more of people in professional, managerial and technical, and skilled manual occupations travelled to work by car or van, as did roughly three-fifths of skilled non-manual and partly-skilled workers. However, only 43% of unskilled workers usually travelled to work by car or van (32% walked and 21% went by bus). A related pattern is seen when the figures are analysed by the annual net income (of the household rather than the person): the proportion who walked to work was highest (around a quarter) for those from households with an annual net income of up to 10,000, and tended to fall as income rose. The percentage who went to work by bus tended to fall, and the percentage who travelled by car or van tended to increase, as income rose.
8.3.4 There are also differences between types of area. About three-quarters of workers in SHS-classified "rural" areas usually travelled by car, compared with about three-fifths of those living in large urban areas and small remote towns. A quarter of workers in small "remote" towns usually walked to work, and just under a fifth of those in large urban areas took the bus.
8.3.5 The interviewer asks the random adult for their home and work postcodes. From this the straight-line distance "as the crow files" between home and work is estimated. (See section A.9 for more details on how the distance was estimated) Chart J shows that just over half of adults who live less than 1 km from work, walk to work and that this percentage falls rapidly as the distance increases. Around a fifth of adults living 2 to less than 5 km away from work take the bus to work. 80% or over of adults whose work is over 10 km from home go by car or van, whereas only 38% of adults who live less than 1 km from home go by car or van. The small percentages apparently walking or cycling very long distances to work may be due to errors in the recorded information or in the estimation process, or to people staying away from home during their working week - see section A.9.
8.3.6 The interviewer asks why the person uses his or her usual means of transport to work. Table 14 summarises the reasons given by those who had said that they travelled by car or van, those who walked, and those who went by bus. (The reasons for using other modes of transport are not analysed, because the information is available for far fewer people.) 69% of those who travelled by car or van said that they did so because it was the most convenient form of transport, 30% that it was the quickest method, 15% considered public transport unsuitable, and 12% said it was the only method available. In contrast, 70% of those who walked to work did so because it was nearby, 30% felt it the most convenient method, just under a fifth referred to exercise and fresh air, and about 14% walked because it was the quickest method. The main reasons given by those who commuted by bus were that it was the most convenient method (67%), it was the only method available (21%), they had no car or other transport (17%), and that it was the quickest method (17%).
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