Annex C
Annex C
National Indicators
1. Proportion of short journeys by walking and cycling 2 miles or less for walking; 5 miles of less for cycling)
Rationale:
A key focus of active travel policy is to encourage and enable people to walk and cycle more often and for everyday journeys. Therefore, having an indicator that measures this specifically is essential for monitoring progress against this aim. The distances of two miles for walking and five miles for cycling are derived from Travel Diary data collected by the Scottish Household Survey.
Data Source:
The Scottish Household Survey collects data on mode of travel to work and distance travelled and publishes it as part of reporting on the National Performance Framework Indicator on Active Travel.
Disaggregation:
Of interest will be how this indicator varies by age, gender, level of income, urban/rural location, and mobility status.
2. Attitudes towards/propensity to walking, cycling and other active modes
Rationale:
Establishing walking and cycling as the main mode of travel for shorter everyday journeys requires a shift in attitudes and culture, leading to a change in how people choose to travel and mutual respect and understanding between people using different modes. Positive attitudes alone do not result in action but changing perceptions and motivating people to view walking and cycling as an everyday safe, healthy and environmentally friendly choice, are necessary to drive behaviour change.
Data Source:
TBC
Disaggregation:
Of interest will be how this indicator varies by age, gender, level of income, urban/rural location, and mobility status.
3. Proportion of journeys to school by walking, cycling and other active modes
Rationale:
Encouraging children to walk, cycle, scoot, park and stride, etc. to school is important, both in terms of improving child health and wellbeing, and also in promoting and embedding active modes of travel at an early age. This indicator will measure how children are travelling to primary, secondary and special education schools and the prevalence of modes used.
Data Source:
Both the Scottish Household Survey and Hands Up survey captures this information and reports on trends annually.
Disaggregation:
Of interest will be the extent of the difference in mode share between primary and secondary school/age, as use of active modes tends to reduce in adolescence. Gender, geographic and socio-economic factors also influence this indicator.
4. Frequency of walking and cycling for pleasure/exercise
Rationale:
While the ambition of active travel policy is to encourage more people to walk and cycle for everyday journeys, walking and cycling for pleasure or exercise has significant impacts on physical and mental wellbeing, social inclusion, and the economy so important to capture data on those who walk and cycle for this reason.
Data Source:
The Scottish Household Survey records data on frequency of walking and cycling for pleasure/exercise.
Disaggregation:
As with everyday walking and cycling, of interest will be how this indicator varies by age, gender, level of income, urban/rural location, and mobility status.
5. Km of traffic free walking and cycling facilities
Rationale:
Having appropriate infrastructure in place to enable safe access to walking and cycling is a crucial element of the overall approach to increasing use of active modes. Having an understanding of the volume of traffic-free walking and cycling facilitates and routes is therefore useful to capture.
Data Source:
Community Links collect this data routinely.
Disaggregation:
Of interest will be the geographic spread of where this infrastructure is and cross reference with rates of walking and cycling.
6. Distance to Traffic-Free Cycling Infrastructure
Rationale:
As above, having local access to appropriate infrastructure to enable safe access to walking and cycling is a crucial element of the overall approach to increasing use of active modes. Having an understanding of where these facilities are located and their proximity to different populations and areas will be useful.
Data Source:
Cycling Scotland’s Cycling Potential Tool.
Disaggregation:
Of interest will be the variation in distance to traffic-free infrastructure, particularly for rural communities.
7. Quality of walking and cycling infrastructure
Rationale:
As with the indicators above, having appropriate infrastructure in place to enable safe access to walking and cycling is a crucial element of the overall approach to increasing use of active modes. Having an understanding of the quality of that infrastructure is also therefore useful to capture.
Data Source:
TBC. There are a number of potential sources for this data.
Disaggregation:
Of interest will be the types of infrastructure and the appraisal of their quality relative to geographic location and cross reference with rates of walking and cycling in and around those areas/routes.
8. Casualties by mode of transport and distance travelled (number and proportion)
Rationale:
In a similar vein to the above, important to balance the perceived road safety risk for walkers and cyclists by looking at actual rates of casualty by these modes.
Data Source:
Data on casualty by mode, distance travelled and severity are routinely collected and published in Transport Scotland’s Road Safety Statistics report.
Disaggregation:
Of interest will be who is more prone to be involved in accidents, by what mode, and where.
9. Perceptions of Safety of Walking and Cycling
Rationale:
Perception of safety for both walking and cycling can act as a barrier to participation, regardless of the statistical data which shows rates actual rates of accidents/incidents. Capturing attitudinal data on how safe walking and cycling are as transport modes will help understanding in developing and delivering behaviour change programmes.
Data Source:
Data on the reasons as to why people don’t walk and cycle more than they currently do is collected by the Scottish Household Survey. Data specifically on walking alone in neighbourhood at night is also collected by the same survey.
Disaggregation:
Of interest will be where there are differences in perceptions, notably by demographic and deprivation markers.
10. Level of inclusion of active travel in Local Development Plans
Rationale:
This indicator will provide a measure of whether walking and cycling features as a consideration at a local authority level and gives some sense to the extent to which active travel is a priority.
Data Source:
Scottish Government Planning Colleagues.
Disaggregation:
By Local Authority Level.
11. Level of public sector spend on walking and cycling
Rationale:
There is recognition that a broad range of support is required to deliver active travel policy and key to this is the work that is undertaken at a local authority level. Capturing spend data at a local authority level on walking and cycling is suggested as a proxy measure to monitor levels of support at this level.
Data Source:
Places for Everyone and other key Transport Scotland funding.
Disaggregation:
Levels of spend will vary across the country but will be of interest to look at where relative spend on active travel and get a sense on where this is making a difference in terms of walking and cycling behaviour.
12. Perception of Community Involvement in Walking and Cycling Initiatives
Rationale:
In order for active travel infrastructure to be fully used and for behaviour change projects to be successful, there needs to be a sense of community ownership of local projects. It is vital that communities are in favour of walking and cycling initiatives and therefore important to capture the level of involvement of community organisations. It is also key to collect data on what communities think of proposals for infrastructure projects in their areas and what they think of them once completed.
Data Source:
Community involvement data for Places for Everyone and Street Design programmes.
Disaggregation:
Of interest will be how this varies by type of community (urban/rural) and socio-economic characteristics e.g. Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation as a proxy.
13. Primary Schools delivering level 2 standard cycle training
Rationale:
Road safety for vulnerable road user is a key focus of road safety policy. Linked to this is cycle proficiency and teaching children how to ride a bike safely at a relatively early stage. This indicator will provide a measure of the coverage of cycle training in primary school.
Data Source:
Cycling Scotland collects this data routinely.
Disaggregation:
Buy local authority area, urban/rural classification and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, If possible.
14. Household access to a bike
Rationale:
There are obvious costs attached to using cycling as a mode of transport, either through ownership or rental, as well as bike security, maintenance and storage. Access to a bike is patterned by level of income and deprivation level and this indicator will provide analysis of bike accessibility with a focus on income and deprivation as a factor.
Data Source:
The Scottish Household Survey collects and publishes data on household access to bike by level of household income and Scottish Index of Multiple deprivation.
Disaggregation:
Income bandings and level of deprivation will be the key focus but analysis also covers urban/rural classification and household type.
15. Proportion of people citing road safety reasons/driver behaviour as a barrier to cycling
Rationale:
Perception of safety is a key driver of whether people choose to cycle and impacts on whether they allow their children to cycle, if parents. It is a routinely cited barrier as to why people do not cycle more often and therefore important to try to affect and report on.
Data Source:
The Scottish Household Survey collects data on the reasons as to why people do not cycle more often which includes a number of road safety issues. This data is published annually in Transport and Travel in Scotland.
Disaggregation:
Of interest will be whether there is variance with regards to gender, age, urban/rural classification and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.