Introduction

Scotland’s National Transport Strategy (NTS2) sets out an ambitious and compelling vision for our transport system for the next 20 years and outlines the four priorities for our transport system: Reduces Inequalities; Takes Climate Action; Helps Deliver Inclusive Economic Growth; and Improves our Health and Wellbeing. To ensure we deliver progress against these goals it is necessary to routinely monitor and report on progress towards these outcomes.

What does this report do?

In order to support the monitoring and evaluation described above, this report provides a baseline report on the key indicators that underpin NTS2. In doing so, it outlines ‘where we were’ in 2019 and the recent context surrounding the various findings. As the report focuses on data, it largely omits discussion of transport policy.

The second NTS2 Delivery Plan (for 2022 to 2023) has also been produced and will be published at the same time as the current report.

What data is provided?

This report provides data on the statistical indicators outlined in the Monitoring and Evaluation strategy that was published in 2021, where it is possible to do so. The data it provided for 2019, with some limited exceptions that are noted throughout, which will provide the baseline year against which subsequent progress will be monitored. For a few indicators outlined in this strategy, data is not currently available and, for more detail on these, see the section of the report on missing indicators. For a full list of the indicators, sources and relevant baseline years of the indicators used here, see Annex A of this document.

The data in this report is also accompanied by a dataset that contains data for all of the relevant indicators, alongside the available demographic breakdowns.

Reduces Inequalities

Walking

  • In 2019, 67% of people reported walking as a means of transport in the last seven days, while 62% reported walking just for pleasure/to keep fit in the same period.

  • Walking just for pleasure/to keep fit was most common among those in the least deprived areas and on higher incomes. Comparing by rurality, walking as a means of transport was most common among those in large urban areas

  • Over half the respondents (55%) said that they faced no barrier to walking more often, while 16% emphasised health reasons as barriers. 

Cycling

  • In 2019, 5% of people reported cycling as a means of transport and 6% reported cycling just for pleasure/to keep fit in the last seven days. It was more common among men than women, and most common among those on higher incomes and in the least deprived areas.
  • 40% of respondents reported that it was 'too far to cycle' to commute to work while 21% reported that there were 'concerns about cycling and traffic' and another 21% reported that the weather was too cold/wet/windy.

On the Bus

  • In 2019, 39% of people had used the bus in the last month. Bus journeys declined from 484 million to 375 million between 2008-09 and 2018-19
  • Bus use was most common among those in large urban areas, those who didn't have a driving license, those on lower incomes and those in the most deprived areas. It was more common among women than among men.
  • Overall, 68% were satisfied with public transport with 16% dissatisfied 
    The most commonly cited barrier to bus use was 'using my own car' (26%)
  • Only 55% agreed that bus fares were good value

On the Train

  • In 2019, 30% of people had used the train in the last month. ScotRail passenger journeys increased from 76 million in 2008-09 to 98 million in 2018-19
  • Train use was most common among those on higher incomes and those in the least deprived areas. It was less common among disabled people, people on lower incomes and those in remote rural areas.
  • 34% of those who hadn't used the train in the last month reported 'no need' as the main barrier to use
  • Only 48% thought that train fares were good value

Further data on satisfaction with buses and trains, barriers to modes and demographic breakdowns are available in the main report.

Takes Climate Action

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

  • Greenhouse gas emissions from transport have fallen from 14.88 megatonnes (mt) in 1990 of CO2 equivalent to 13.95 mt in 2019
  • In 2019, passenger cars represented 38% of the total, with overall road transport accounting for around two thirds of the total.
  • By comparison, 17% of emissions comes from shipping while 15% comes from aviation

Sustainable Mode Share

  • In 2019, 33% of journeys were made using sustainable modes. Between 2009 and 2019, sustainable modes peaked in 2014 at 38%
  • Under two miles, 54% of journeys were made using sustainable modes, i.e. walking, cycling, buses and trains. Under five miles, 43% of journeys were made using sustainable modes
  • Sustainable modes tended to be more common in urban areas as opposed to rural areas, and tended to be more common among those in the lowest 30% of incomes compared to those in the highest 30% of incomes

Freight by Mode

  • The most substantial share of freight is via road, followed, in order, by water, rail, and air freight
  • Most road freight is inter-Scottish, with origins and destinations in Scotland. Inter-Scottish freight has declined from 2004 to 2019
  • Road based exports to the UK increased between 2004 and 2019, as have imports from the rest of the UK. Exports to countries outside the UK have declined in the same period, as have imports from these destinations
  • Water based freight also declined between 2004 and 2019. Air freight declined during the same period
  • While comparisons are complex, data indicates that air freight has the highest carbon intensity per kilometre tonne, followed by road, followed by rail and water based freight

Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicles

  • In Quarter 4 of 2019, Ultra Low Emissions Vehicles (ULEV) cars were 4.1% of new car registrations and ULEVs overall were 3.6% of overall new vehicle registrations
  • During 2019 as a whole, ULEV cars were 2.6% of all new car registrations and ULEVs overall were 2.3% of overall new vehicle registrations

For more information, data about freight, comparisons by groups and discussions of trends, see the main report.

Helps Deliver Inclusive Economic Growth

Access to Services

  • From the data zones, within 20 minutes, via public transport in specified time-limits, mostly between three and four hours on Tuesday morning: 
    • 91% of all data zones could access a primary school
    • 88% could access a large food outlet (between 10am and 2pm)
    • 84% could access a GP while 24% could access a hospital 
    • 58% could access a secondary school
    • 55% could access a train station and 1% could access an airport
    • 31% could access further education
    • 19% could access higher education
  • By contrast, 5% of data zones could not access public transport within 800 metres of the population weighted centre

Access to Employment

  • Between 6am and 10am, an average of 115,797 jobs within key employment sites were available from the centre of a data zone within one hour via public transport across Scotland as a whole. In large urban areas, this was a mean of 202,614 jobs within one hour compared to 3,272 in remote rural areas

Satisfaction with public transport by geography

  • Satisfaction ranged between 88% in Edinburgh to 44% in South Ayrshire
  • Satisfaction was 77% in large urban areas and 48% in remote rural areas

Barriers to public transport by geography

  • Barriers varied by geography. In rural areas, 22% reported a ‘lack of service’ on the bus compared to 4% of those in of urban areas
  • Among those who’d recently used the train, 22% of those in rural  areas and 11% of those in urban areas reported ‘no nearby station’#

Tourism and Visitors

  • Overseas visits grew from 2.6 million to 3.5 million between 2009 and 2019.
  • In 2019 there were 17.5 million overnight visits to Scotland, around two thirds of which were in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Highlands
  • For visitors from the rest of the world and the UK, Edinburgh and the Lothians received the most visitors and had the most spending. The Highlands had the most visitors and spending from those from within Scotland

For more breakdowns of variation between locations and analysis of the data about journey times to services and employment, see the main report.

Improves our Health and Wellbeing

Active Travel

  • Almost half of journey under two miles are made by active modes (walking, wheeling and cycling), as are a third of trips under five miles
  • Journeys by active modes were, in both cases, more common among those on lower incomes than those on higher incomes and, for trips under five miles, more common in urban than rural areas

Traffic Casualties

  • There were 7,745 overall casualties in 2019, including 166 deaths and 1,930 serious injuries.
  • Overall casualties were highest in Glasgow while deaths were highest in the Highlands (21). Per population, casualties were highest in Argyll and Bute
  • Casualties increased overall with the deprivation decile of the address of the person involved.
  • Casualties were more common among men than women and were most common in cars. By distance travelled, motorcycles had the highest number of serious injuries (0.85) and fatalities (0.08) per million kilometres.

Perceptions of Safety

  • On the bus, 69% agreed that they felt safe during the evening while 76% agreed that they felt safe and secure on the train in the evening.
  • On both modes, disagreement with feeling safe and secure in the evening was higher among women (12% on the bus, 14% on the train) than men (5%). It was also higher among disabled people (14% on the bus, 15% on the train) compared to non-disabled people (9% on the train, 7% on the bus). On buses, it was higher among those in the lower 30% of incomes (11%) than among those in the higher 30% of incomes (6%).

Air Pollution

  • Transport related Nitrogen Oxide emissions fell from 150.5 thousand tonnes in 1990 to 47.8 thousand tonnes in 2019
  • Particulate Matter (PM) 10 from transport fell from 7 thousand tonnes in 1990 to 2.5 thousand tonnes in 2019. PM 2.5 from transport fell from 6.4 thousand tonnes in 1990 to 1.8 thousand tonnes in 2019.

Reasons for Travel

  • 27% of journeys were for leisure, while 72% were for non-leisure reasons.

For further analysis, discussion and comparisons between groups, see the main report.

Missing Indicators and Data Gaps

There are several indicators where data is in the process of being collected or developed and that we intend to publish in the future when data is available. These are:

  • Spend on transport – individual and household (headline indicator). However, data about expenditure on transport and fuel costs by household is provided.
  • Perception of affordability of transport (primary indicator)
  • Journey times to and connectivity between transport modes (primary indicator)
  • Use of smart/integrated technology in public transport (TBC) (primary indicator)
  • Proximity to segregated walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure (primary indicator).

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