Walking, Cycling and Wheeling is Available to All

The final outcome in the Active Travel Framework is measured through two indicators: (14) Household access to a bike (with focus on regional and socioeconomic variation), and (15) Proportion of people identifying barriers to walking, cycling and wheeling.

14. Household Access to a Bicycle

The Scottish Household Survey indicates that access to at least one bike for private use within a single adult (aged 16-64) households has stayed roughly at the same level from 2015 onwards (around 28%). Although the 2020 data cannot be used as a comparison, given that the pandemic changed the method of data collection from face to face to telephone interviews, 2020 data shows adult access to at least one bicycle for private use at 33%. Industry data suggest there was an increase in bikes sales during the initial months of the pandemic (e.g. Bicycle Association, 2020; Statista, 2020).

As described in text.
Figure 41. Adult access to at least one bike for private use (2015-2020)

Figure 41 also indicates gender differences in access to a bicycle. A higher proportion of men consistently reported having a bike available for their use, while the proportion of women with bike access was lower than average for all examined years.

14.1.1. Household Access to a Bicycle by Gender and Household Income

As visible in Figure 41 above, men are more likely to have access to a bicycle than women, and higher income households are more than three times as likely to have access to a bike as those in the bottom three household income bands (see Figure 42 below).

As described in text.
Figure 42. Adult access to at least one bike for private use by annual net household income (2014-2019)

This would support the findings from the indicator reflecting the proportion of individuals cycling at least once a week for pleasure or to keep fit, which demonstrates a steep increase among the highest earners (Figure 31).

15. Proportion of People Identifying Barriers to Walking, Cycling, and Wheeling

The data available on the barriers to walking more for the same five data points (i.e., 2012-2014, 2016, 2019) suggest that over 50% of participants identified no specific reason as to why they do not walk more than they do. Health reasons/unable to walk far and weather were the next two most commonly cited reasons, with 15% of participants raising each of those issues (see Figures 43 and 44). Unfortunately, there is no statistical data on people identifying barriers to wheeling through Scottish Household Survey.

As described in text.
Figure 43. Reasons that discourage people from walking more than they do (2012-2019)
As described in text.
Figure 44. Reasons that discourage people from walking more than they do (2012-2019 average)

The proportion of individuals stating health or being unable to walk as a reason not to walk more increases sharply with age (Figure 45) and decreases with income (Figure 46).

As described in text.
Figure 45. People citing health reasons/too far to walk as a reason for not walking more than they do by age (2012-2019 average)

As Figure 46 demonstrates, those in lower income households (£25,000 annual net income and below) cite health reasons/too far to walk over three times more often than those earning £40,000 and above.

As described in text.
Figure 46. People citing health reasons/too far to walk as a reason for not walking more than they do by annual net household income (2012-2019 average)