Drop in satisfaction with public transport

A survey of Scotland’s transport and travel habits has found that satisfaction with public transport has dropped over the past four years.

Transport Scotland statisticians today released statistics on transport and travel in Scotland from the Scottish Household Survey 2018. The publication includes a range of statistics about the journeys people make and how they travel.

The survey found that the percentage of Scottish adults that were very or fairly satisfied with their local public transport dropped from 75% in 2014 to 65% in 2018.

Analysis of the trips that people made in 2018 found that over half of journeys in Scotland (53%) were made by driving a car or van. Increasingly, drivers reported being alone in their vehicles, with the proportion of car trips that were ‘single-occupant’ rising from 56% in 1999 to 66% in 2018.

Walking was next most popular mode of transport in 2018, accounting for 20% of journeys, having dropped from 26% in 2012. Cycling accounted for 1.4% of journeys.

The proportion of journeys made by train increased from 1.8% in 2012 to 2.6% in 2018, whilst respondents reported making a similar share of journeys by bus (8.0%) as in 2012 (8.1%).

Other findings from the survey include:

Scottish householders are increasingly willing to consider buying an electric car. 44% of respondents said they would consider buying an electric car or van in the future, an increase from 36% in 2016.

For people who had bought or would consider buying a plug-in electric vehicle, the main reasons were their environmentally friendliness (68%) and their fuel or running costs (58%).

‘Range anxiety’ was the main thing putting people off electric cars. Of those who said they would not consider buying an electric vehicle, 46% reported that the distance that could be travelled on a single charge was the main deterrant, with the availability or convenience of charging points also a main concern (41%).

 The gender difference in driving to work has closed. In 1999 a greater proportion of men than women drove to work (60% compared to 48%). The figures are now equal at 63%.