Recent figures from a survey of Scotland’s transport and travel habits has found that levels of travel remained lower in 2023 compared with 2019. Transport Scotland statistics from the Scottish Household Survey found that in 2023, 64% of people had made some form of journey the day before their survey interview, an increase from 2022 but still well below the 2019 figure. The average number of journeys made the day before the survey interview dropped from 1.9 in 2019 to 1.6 in 2023.
When people did travel, over half of journeys (51%) were made by driving a car or van, down from 55% in 2022. Walking was the next most common mode of transport and saw a rise from 23% of journeys in 2022 to 25% of journeys in 2023. 12% of journeys were made as a car or van passenger, 7% by bus and 2% by rail.
The survey also found that changes in levels of working from home and commuting habits had persisted. The proportion of people who reported travelling to work five days a week dropped from 62% in 2019 to 41% in 2023.
The survey recorded an overall increase in satisfaction with public transport, up to 64% from 58%, but still lower than in 2019. Satisfaction with public transport was higher amongst actual users of public transport (those that had used bus or train in the past month), with 74% of users reporting that they were satisfied in 2023.
