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Scottish Household Survey Travel Diary results

5 Distances travelled (Table 10 and table 11; Charts D to F)

5.1 Journey distances

5.1.1 The distances analysed in this publication are estimated "straight-line" or "as the crow files" distances between origins and destinations, calculated using grid references obtained from the origin and destination postcodes. This means that the results may not reflect the true distance travelled as a typical journey is unlikely to be in a straight line. (Section A5 explains in more detail the calculation of journey distance). Table 10 shows banded journey distance: 19% of reported journeys were less than 1km and 16% of journeys were at least 1km but less than 2 km long compared with only 5% of journeys which were 40 km and over. Distance travelled varied by sex. 16% of journeys by men were less than 1 km compared to 21% of journeys by women. There was also variation in journey distance by age-group. 18% of journeys by 16-29 year olds were of less than 1 km compared with 31% of journeys made by people aged 80+.

5.1.2 Unsurprisingly, journey distance varies greatly with the main mode of transport. Walking journeys were short with 54% of walking journeys being less than 1 km and a further 25% being at least 1km but less than 2 km. Bicycle journeys also tend to be short, with 27% less than 1 km and a further 27% at least 1 but less than 2 km. Driving journeys by car or van are more evenly spread by distance, ranging from 11% of less than 1km through 20% of at least 5km but less than 10km to 6% 40 km and over. Charts D to E show the distribution of journeys by distance for each mode of transport. Similarly, there is variation with the purpose of the journey. Journeys for business purposes, and for holidays or day trips, seem to be longest with 15-16% 40 km and over, compared to 5% of all journeys.

Chart D: Journeys by distance: by walking and bicycle:1999/2000

Chart E: Journeys by distance: by driver/passenger car/van and taxi/minicab: 1999/2000

Chart F: Journeys by distance: by bus and rail: 1999/2000

5.1.3 Journey distance varies with the current situation of the adults interviewed. Those who are self-employed or who are in full-time employment seem to travel longer distances, with (respectively) 16% and 14% of their journeys being less than 1 km, and 7% and 6% over 40 km. This differs from those that are unemployed and seeking work (27% of their journeys under 1 km) or looking after home and family (25% of their journeys less than 1 km). Journey distance also varies with social class, with shorter journeys being made by those in unskilled occupations (24% of their journeys are less than 1 km) compared to journeys made by adults in professional occupations (12%). This is reflected in the percentages of journeys over 40 km: 6% of journeys for those in professional occupations (and 7% of journeys for those in managerial and technical occupations) in contrast to 3% of journeys made by those in unskilled occupations.

5.1.4 There is considerable variation in journey distance between different types of area, using the SHS urban / rural classification. 3% of journeys made by adults who live in "large urban areas" are over 40 km compared to 10% of journeys by those living in "remote rural areas". There was not much difference in the percentage of journeys of less than 1 km for those adults living in "large urban areas" and "remote rural areas", 19% and 17% respectively. However, 34% of journeys by adults in "remote small towns" were less than 1 km, compared with only 11% of journeys by those in "accessible rural areas".

5.2 Journey distances: summary statistics

5.2.1 Table 11 shows some summary statistics for journey distance, again based on "straight-line" distances between origins and destinations. (See section A5 for more detail on the calculation of journey distance) Table 11 shows the average (arithmetic mean) distance for each group and also shows the median distance, as the latter is more like a "typical" distance for each group. The median is the middle value: half the journeys in the group will have a distance no greater than the median, and half will be no less than the median. The average (arithmetic mean) might give a misleading impression due to the effect of a small proportion of journeys with extremely large distances on the calculation of the average. The overall average (mean) journey distance is 9.7 km, whereas the median distance is only 3.7 km.

5.2.2 Men’s journeys had a median length of 4.2 km and women’s a median of 3.2 km. There was more variation in median distance by age: 16-19 year olds’ journeys had a median of 3.1 km compared to those aged 80+ who had a median of 2 km and those in the 30-39 and 40-49 age-groups whose journeys had a median of 4.1 km. The median journey distance travelled varies greatly by main mode: 0.9 km for walking journeys, 5.4 km for journeys as the driver of a car or van, and 16.7 km for rail journeys, (though the number of rail journeys in the sample was under 600 so this result might not be very reliable). There were also differences in the median distance travelled by journey purpose: a median 9.6 km for business journeys compared with 5.1 km for commuting journeys and 2.7 km for shopping trips. The median distances for journeys made by people who lived in rural areas were markedly higher than the overall median of 3.7 km, being 7.9 km for "accessible" rural areas and 7.3 km for "remote" rural areas.

5.2.3 Table 11 also shows quartiles and deciles. The lower quartile for the distance travelled is 1.4 km (the 25% value: 25% of journeys were shorter than or equal to the lower quartile). The upper quartile for journey distance is 9.8 km (this is the upper 25% value: 25% of journeys were longer than or equal to the upper quartile). Therefore, the average journey distance is much closer to the upper quartile than the median. The upper and lower deciles which provide "boundaries" for the lowest and highest 10%, are 0.6 km (the lower decile) and 22.6 km (the upper decile). Table 11 shows that 25% of journeys by car or van were of length 2.1.km or less, and about 25% were of length 12.7 km or more. The upper quartile for journeys by people who lived in "accessible" rural areas was 16.8 km, and 18.5 km for those in "remote" rural areas.

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