6. Public Transport And Aviation

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

Sixty nine per cent of people were very or fairly satisfied with public transport in 2017, a decrease on 2016 (72%). The proportion of people who are very satisfied has remained at 21 per cent. [Table 4]

Local Bus Services

Bus use is declining over time. Provisional figures indicate that there were 380 million bus journeys made in Scotland in 2017/18, a reduction from 393 million in 2016/17 and 420 million in 2012/13. [Table SUM2]

Twenty eight per cent of adults used the bus at least once a week. Fifty seven 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 25% of men). [Table 28]

Frequency of bus use differed across age groups and was highest amongst younger people (68% of 16-19 year olds had used the bus in the last month). It was lowest for people aged between thirty and fifty nine (where between 33% and 35% had travelled by bus in the past month), and increased again for people over sixty. [Table 28]

Frequency of bus use was also higher in urban areas (43% of people in large urban areas use the bus at least once a week compared to 11% in remote rural areas and small remote towns). [Table 28]

Questions asking users’ views on bus services [Table 29] and reasons for not using the bus [Table 41] are asked biennially and were not included in the 2017 survey. The most recently available tables are included in the statistical tables section of this publication.

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 142 million concessionary travel journeys in 2016-17 (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 2017]

Eighty-seven per cent of SHS respondents aged 60+ reported holding a National Concessionary Travel pass in 2017, a similar figure to previous years. Twenty eight per cent of adults aged 16+ reported holding a pass. [Table 5]

Of those aged 60+, thirty six per cent reported having a card and using it at least once a week (10% used it every day or almost every day). Thirty four per cent had a pass but had not used it in the last month. [Table 32]

Those living in urban areas used their pass more frequently than those living in rural areas. Women use their pass more frequently than men (39% of women aged 60+ have a pass and use it at least once a week, compared to 33% of men aged 60+). [Table 32]

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

Accessibility

The Scottish Access to Bus Indicator analysis was not repeated in 2017. The most recently available tables and maps are available in the Transport and Travel is Scotland 2016 publication [Annex B SABI Tables]: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/26-september-2017-transport-and-travel-in-scotland-2016/

Rail Travel

There were 98 million passengers carried by ScotRail in 2017-18, an increase on 94 million in 2016-17 and 74 million in 2007-08. [Table SUM2]

Nine per cent of the population (16+) reported using the train at least once a week in 2017. Sixty nine per cent had not used the train in the last month, a decrease from seventy seven per cent in 2007. [Table 28 and Table SUM1]

The proportion of people who reported that they had used the train in the last month decreased with age (43% of those aged 16-19 had used the train in the last month, compared to 7% of those aged 80+). [Table 28]

Train use was higher in higher income households (77% of those interviewed with a household income of less than £10,000 had not used the train in the last month, compared to 58% 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, the most frequent journey purpose was shopping (37%), followed by visiting friends or relatives (27%) and other recreational activities (22%). [Table 44]

Questions asking users’ views on rail services [Table 30], and reasons people were discouraged from using the train [Tables 42 and 42a] are asked biennially and were not included in the 2017 survey. The most recently available tables are included in the statistical tables section of this publication.

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

Aviation

The number of air terminal passengers (passengers joining or leaving aircraft at Scottish airports) increased from 26.9 million in 2016 to 28.8 million in 2017. [Table SUM2]

Questions relating to flight numbers [Table 37a, 38a], frequency of flying [Table 37b, 38b] and reasons for flying [Table 39] are asked biennially and were not included in the 2017 survey. The most recently available tables are included in the statistical tables section of this publication.

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

Changing Modes

Fifteen percent of drivers in the 2017 survey had taken a park and ride journey in the past month. This figure has had a declining trend in recent years from 20 per cent in 2011. The main reason given for not using a park and ride facility was that none was available (this was reported by 83% of drivers) [Table 21]

For park and ride users, the mode of transport most used in conjunction with driving for the combined years 2009-17 was train (54%). [Table 22]

The question on difficulties experienced when changing between public transport [Table 45] is asked biennially and was not included in the 2017 survey. The most recently available table is included in the statistical tables section of this publication.