Statistical Bulletin Transport Series - Transport and Travel in Scotland 2011

5 Walking and Cycling

• Thirty-five per cent of households had access to at least one bicycle for adult use in 2011 (a similar figure to 2002).
• More people are walking. Sixty-three per cent of respondents had walked at least a quarter of a mile as a means of transport in the past seven days, an increase from 54 per cent in 2001. Fifty-four per cent of respondents had walked at least a quarter of a mile for pleasure in the past seven days in 2011. This is an increase from 43 per cent in 2001.
• Respondents living in urban areas were more likely to walk as a means of transport and less likely to walk for pleasure than respondents living in rural areas.

Frequency of walking

5.1 In 2011, 63 per cent of respondents to the Scottish Household Survey reported walking as a means of transport on at least one of the previous seven days, an increase from 55 per cent in 2001. There has also been a more steady increase in those who walked for leisure - from 43 per cent in 2001 to 54 per cent in 2011. [Table S3]

5.2 Around 18 per cent of respondents had walked as a means of transport on 6 or 7 days in the last week and a similar proportion said they had walked for leisure on 6 or 7 days in the last week. [Table 3]

5.3 Note: These figures only include journeys longer than ¼ of a mile. The figures are higher than the travel to work question (See Section 6) and will include journeys where walking is a stage of the journey but not the longest distance (i.e. 'main') mode. [Table 3]

Age/gender

5.4 Walking for transport decreases with age. Walking for pleasure increases to a peak with 40-49 year olds and then decreases again. Only 25 per cent of those aged 80 and above had gone for a walk for pleasure in the last seven days, compared to the average of 54 per cent for all adults. Those aged 40-49 are the only group to be as likely to walk for pleasure as for transport. [Table 25]

Income

5.5 Income had little effect on transport related walking journeys but households on high-incomes were more likely to make pleasure related walking journeys in 2011.

Urban/rural

5.6 Those living in urban areas were more likely to walk as a means of transport compared to those living in rural areas. However, they were less likely to walk for pleasure, with only 52 per cent of those living in large urban areas responding that they had walked for pleasure in the last seven days compared to 61 per cent of respondents living in remote rural areas. (Figure 17)

Frequency of driving

5.7 Unsurprisingly, the frequency of driving affected the percentage of transport walking trips recorded in the past seven days but it had little significant affect on the percentage of pleasure walking trips.

Figure 17: Walking as a means of transport or for pleasure by urban/rural, 2011
(on one or more of the previous seven days)

Bicycle access

5.8 Thirty-five per cent of households had access to at least one bicycle in 2011, continuing the trend of little change over the last decade. [Table S3] The percentage of households with access to a bicycle varied with household type with families and large adult households the most likely to have access to a bicycle (51 - 62%) and single pensioners the least likely to have access to a bicycle (6%). [Table 18]

5.9 As household income increased so did the likelihood of the household having access to at least one bicycle, with 66 per cent of those in the highest income bracket (over £40,000 per year) compared to 17 per cent in the lowest income bracket (up to £10,000 per year).

5.10 Similar patterns can be seen in the deprivation and the urban/rural figures. As levels of deprivation decrease, the likelihood of a household having access to a bicycle increases and as rurality increases, the likelihood of having a bicycle also increased.