Survey reveals Scots becoming less mobile

By ALASTAIR DALTON
Published on 21/11/2012 16:45

SCOTS are becoming less mobile, with more than one in four not travelling on any given day - down 7 percentage points in four years, a Scottish Government survey shows today.

A total of 73 per cent of adults questioned last year in the latest annual Scottish Household Survey said they had travelled the previous day, the fourth consecutive fall from 80 per cent in 2007. Short journeys were not previously recorded, so comparisons with earlier years are not possible.

Nearly two thirds of travel was by car or van, with walking next most popular at 22 per cent, bus at 9 per cent and rail at 2 per cent - all of which were largely unchanged on 2007.

However, cycling nearly doubled, from 0.7 to 1.3 per cent.

Lone drivers were at their highest level for at least a decade, accounting for 63 per cent of car trips in 2011 compared to 58 per cent in 2001. The report said this was probably due to more people having access to cars.

Commuting was the most common type of travel, up 2 percentage points since 2007 to 26 per cent, while shopping fell by a similar amount to 21 per cent. The only other significant change was business travel halving from 1.5 to 0.7 per cent.

The proportion of drivers delayed by congestion remained at 11 per cent compared to 2010, and lower than the most recent peak of 14 per cent in 2007. Bus passengers suffering delays fell from 12 per cent in 2010 to 11 per cent last year.

Friday is now the busiest travel day of the week, accounting for 15.5 per cent of trips, closely followed by Thursday, which was busiest in 2007.