Transport and Travel in Scotland 2014

6. Public Transport, Aviation And Ferries

This section contains analysis and headline findings from the Scottish Household Survey questions on public transport (including the Travel Diary part of the survey), as well as comparisons with data from a range of other sources.

Satisfaction With Public Transport

Seventy five per cent of people were very or fairly satisfied with public transport in 2014, an increase on 2013 (71 per cent). However, the proportion of people that are very satisfied has decreased slightly from 24 per cent to 23 per cent. [Table 4]

Local Bus Services

Provisional figures indicate that there were 420 million bus journeys made in Scotland in 2014/15, a reduction from 425 million in 2013/14. [Table SUM2]

Twenty nine per cent of adults used the bus at least once a week. Fifty-eight per cent had not used it in the past month. [Table 28]

Women tended to use buses more frequently than men (31% of women used the bus at least once a week compared to 26 per cent of men). [Table 28]

Frequency of bus use was highest amongst younger people (only 36% of 16-19 year olds had not used the bus in the last month, compared to two thirds (68%) of those aged 40-59 and 58% of those aged 80+). [Table 28]

Frequency of bus use was also higher in urban areas (42% of people in large urban areas use the bus at least once a week compared to 10% in remote rural areas). [Table 28]

People were satisfied with most of the aspects of bus services asked about in the survey. Agreement was highest for respondents feeling safe and secure during the day (94%), for finding it simple to decide which ticket to use (89%) and for finding routes and times easily (86%). Lowest levels of agreement were with fares being good value (60%) and buses being environmentally friendly (66%). [Table 29]

When asked what discourages them from using the bus more, 20 per cent said they had no need to use the bus more, 19 per cent of respondents said they used their own car and 16 per cent gave no particular reason. Reasons around service provision ('Takes too long', 'lack of service' and 'no direct route') were each cited by over 10 per cent of respondents. [Table 41]

Further bus statistics can be found in the Bus and Coach Chapter of Scottish Transport Statistics.

Concessionary travel

The National Concessionary Travel Scheme was rolled out across Scotland in April 2006. The scheme enables individuals aged 60+ or those with a disability (who meet certain criteria) to travel free on buses across Scotland.

There were 151 million concessionary travel journeys in 2013 (the latest year for which data are available), accounting for 36 per cent of all bus journeys in that year. [Table 2.2a Scottish Transport Statistics]

Eighty-seven per cent of adults aged 60+ hold a National Concessionary Travel pass in 2014, a similar figure to previous years. Twenty seven per cent of adults aged 16+ hold a pass. [Table 5]

Of those aged 60+, thirty seven per cent have a card and use it at least once a week (10% use it every day or almost every day). Thirty four per cent have a pass but hadn't used it in the last month. [Table 32]

Those living in urban areas use their pass more frequently than those living in rural areas. Women use their pass more frequently than men (42% of women aged 60+ have a pass and use it at least once a week, compared to 30% of men aged 60+). [Table 32]

Statistics on concessionary journeys, and card holder numbers from the National Concessionary Travel administrative systems, are included in the Bus and Coach chapter of Scottish Transport Statistics.

Rail Travel

There were 92.7 million passengers carried by ScotRail in 2014, an increase of seven per cent from 86.3 million in 2013, and an increase of 21 per cent over the last five years. [Table SUM2]

Nine per cent of the population (16+) reported using the train at least once a week in 2014. Sixty nine per cent had not used the train in the last month, a reduction from 82 per cent in 2004. [Table 28 and Table SUM1]

The proportion of people who reported that they hadn't used the train in the last month increased with age (59% of those aged 16-19 hadn't used the train in the last month, compared to 93% of those aged 80+). [Table 28]

Train use was higher in higher income households (78% of those interviewed with a household income of less than £15,000 had not used the train in the last month, compared to 57% for those in households with an income of more than £40,000. [Table 28]

Of those who had used the train in the last month, a third (33%) had used it for a shopping trip. A quarter (25%) had use the train to visit friends / relatives. Twelve per cent had used the train in the course of work and 11 per cent had used it for commuting in 2014. [Table 44]

People were satisfied with most aspects of rail services that the survey asks about. The level of agreement was highest with personal safety (97%), running to timetable, stability of service and ease of finding out about routes and times (91% for the latter three). The lowest level of agreement was with the statement that train fares are good value (57%). [Table 30]

When asked what discourages train users from using the train more, the main reason given, other than nothing (56%) or "no need" (17%) was cost (12%) with the next largest proportion being 'no nearby station'(6%). For those who hadn't used the train in the previous month, the main reasons were "nothing" (39%), "no need" (23%), "no nearby station" (16%), cost (10%) and "health reasons" (5%). [Table 42 & 42a]

Detailed rail statistics can be found in the Rail Chapter of Scottish Transport Statistics.

Aviation

Air terminal passengers increased by 3.6 per cent between 2013 and 2014, from 23.25 million to 24.1 million. [Table SUM2]

In 2014, 46 per cent of people had flown for leisure purposes in the previous 12 months and 8 per cent had flown for business. [Table 37a and 38a]

Of those who flew for leisure in the last 12 months, half made up to two flights (return flights count as two, as does changing flights). Ninety one per cent flew eight times or fewer. [Table 37b]

Most people who flew for leisure flew to Europe. Of those who flew for leisure in the last 12 months, 76 per cent made at least one flight to Europe in the previous year. Five per cent made at least one flight within Scotland, 28 per cent made at least one flight to the rest of the UK and 31 per cent made at least one flight out of Europe. [Table 37b]

Of those who flew for business in the last 12 months, fifty seven per cent made six flights or fewer but around one in five (19%) made more than 20 flights (returns count as two, as does changing flights). [Table 38b]

Most people who fly for business flew within the UK. Of those who flew for business in the last 12 months, 72 per cent had flown to the rest of the UK. Thirteen per cent had flown within Scotland, 33 per cent had flown to Europe and 23 per cent had flown outside of Europe. [Table 38b]

The majority of people flying for business or leisure within the UK did so because it was quicker than alternative modes (85%). Just under a quarter (22%) did so because it was cheaper, though this proportion has fallen slightly from 23 per cent in 2013 and 28 per cent in 2012. [Table 39]

Detailed aviation statistics can be found in the Aviation Chapter of Scottish Transport Statistics.

Ferries

There were 7.88 million ferry passengers carried on routes within Scotland in 2014, an increase of 0.7 per cent from 7.83 million in 2013. [Table SUM2]

Just over four per cent of respondents had used the ferry in the last month. Three per cent used a ferry once a fortnight or once a month and less than one per cent used it more frequently. [Table 40a]

Just under half (46%) of people who had used a ferry had done so for a holiday or day trip. Twenty five per cent had used a ferry to visit friends or relatives. Fifteen per cent had used a ferry in the course of work and ten per cent had used a ferry for a shopping trip. [Table 40b]

Two thirds (68%) of people chose to use the ferry because there was no feasible alternative. Eleven per cent chose the ferry because it was quicker, nine per cent said they chose the ferry as they could take their own vehicle and six per cent said it was cheaper. [Table 40c]

Detailed ferry statistics can be found in the Water Transport Chapter of Scottish Transport Statistics.

Changing Modes

Thirty three per cent of journeys where rail was the main mode of transport had two or more stages. Nine per cent had three or more. Five per cent of journeys where service bus was the main mode of transport had two or more stages. [Table TD2c]

Most users (86%) reported no difficulties changing between modes of public transport. Six per cent reported that they had a long wait between journeys and three per cent reported not having enough time to change modes. A lack of information about connecting modes was reported by 2 per cent of users. [Table 45]