High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Walking and Cycling
The Scottish Household Survey asks adults whether, in the previous seven days, they walked more than a quarter of a mile in order to go somewhere (e.g. to work, to the shops, or to visit friends). In 2007, 51 per cent of adults had done so. The percentages for men and women were similar. Adults aged 16-19 were the most likely to have walked to go somewhere on foot, with 70 per cent reporting this, compared with around half of those 50-74, and around a third of those aged 74+. The percentage did not vary much with household income.
Forty-seven per cent of adults had walked for pleasure or to keep fit (including jogging and walking a dog). The chart below shows how this varies with sex and age. Walking for pleasure or to keep fit tended to rise with household income.
Similar information is collected about cycling. Three per cent of adults had made a trip of more than a quarter of a mile by bicycle, in the previous seven days, in order to go somewhere. The percentage was slightly higher for men and adults aged 25-29. Four per cent of adults had cycled for pleasure or to keep fit. The chart shows how this varies with sex and age; it also tended to rise with household income.
National Travel Survey (NTS) results for Scotland suggest that the average distance walked per person per year (for journeys for which walking was the main mode of transport) fell from 251 miles in 1985/86 to 191 miles in 2005/2006. The average distance cycled per person per year (for journeys for which cycling was the main mode of transport) was 17-18 miles between 1985/86 and 1992/94; since then, it has varied between 23 and 30 miles (it was 23 miles in 2005/2006). Due to the small sample size, NTS results for Scotland are provided for two- or three-year periods - and, even then, are subject to sampling variability, so one should not make too much of some apparently small period-to-period changes.
Source: Scottish Transport Statistics
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