COVID-19 Public Attitudes Survey Data: Wave 8

Transport Scotland is monitoring public attitudes to transport and travel during the COVID-19 outbreak. We are doing this through a telephone survey carried out on our behalf with a representative sample of over 16s across Scotland. This information provides the key findings from the survey. This information is used to gain an understanding of the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting current travel behaviour and intentions for future travel in Scotland. This information cannot be used to determine compliance with government guidance relating to non-essential travel in isolation. Police Scotland hold information in relation to penalty notices issued under emergency legislation. These findings are for the seventh wave of the survey which took place from 8 - 16 September 2020. The key findings are:

Current Behaviour

• The vast majority of people have left home at least once in the past 7 days (92%). This has been fairly consistent across all eight waves.
• The main trip purposes continue to be to shop for groceries (89% leaving the house at least once) and outdoor exercise (68%). The prevalence of other journey types has levelled off following an increase over the past few waves. 36% say they have left their house at least once to shopping for other things out with groceries compared to 38% at wave 7. Similarly, 30% say they are travelling to work which is a similar level seen at the previous wave (32%).
• People continue to shop for groceries and other items less frequently (1-3 times a week) whereas they take part in outdoor exercise more frequently (4-7 times per week). For those travelling to work, the majority are doing so between 4-7 times a week.
• Private car or van remains the main mode of transport used across most trip purposes in the past 7 days, with walking or wheeling the other main method used. For those travelling to work, 83% indicate that they are travelling by car or van; 9% have used active modes; while 8% have said that they used public transport. For dropping children at school or nursery, two thirds (67%) have used car, with 29% walking or wheeling, though numbers are very small.
• Currently, people are more likely to: use contactless payments (60%); contact family and friends by phone, video call or texting apps (53%); exercise outside the home by walking (52%); use conference calls and video call to communicate with colleagues, customers and clients (51%); and shop closer to home (50%) compared to before restrictions were put in place.
• 44% of people are more likely to shop online to purchase products they would normally buy in-store; 22% are more likely to use home delivery for supermarket shopping more.

Looking Ahead

• Concerns about using public transport remain high: 67% of people are very or fairly concerned about contracting or spreading the virus while using public transport; and 63% are very or fairly concerned about having enough space to observe physical distancing on public transport. This has been fairly consistent across the previous seven waves of the survey.
• 48% agree with the statement "I will avoid public transport and use my car or other vehicle more than I did before when restrictions on transport are lifted". The main reasons for avoiding public transport in rank order are the risk that others are still carrying the disease; convenience; unable to stay 1m apart; and cleanliness or hygiene on-board public transport.
• 90% agree with the statement "I will wear a face covering if using public transport". 87% of those who used public transport in the past 7 days said that they wore a face covering but this is based on a very small number of people (45).
• 21% agree that they will make more journeys by public transport now that more places are open.
• 43% of people say they are likely to book at least one leisure trip in Scotland, compared to 26% who say they will book a leisure trip in the rest of the UK; and 10% who say they will book a leisure trip abroad. There has been a slight decrease in the number of people likely to book all of these types of trip since wave seven.
• 39% agree that they will work from home more often in the future, down 2 percentage points since wave seven.
• 64% agree that they will walk and cycle more, a decrease of 1 percentage point from wave seven.
• 55% agree that they will travel less by air than before.