National Travel Survey: 2009

The 2009 National Travel Survey (NTS) is the latest in an established series of household surveys of personal travel in Great Britain.

The NTS has been running continuously since 1988, following previous ad hoc surveys. The survey is primarily designed to track long term development of trends in travel, although short term changes can also be detected.

NTS data is collected via two main sources – interviews with people in their homes, and a diary that they keep for a week to record their travel. The NTS covers travel by all age groups, including children. In 2009, data was collected from over 8,000 households, covering nearly 20,000 individuals.

The key findings from the 2009 NTS include:
• There has been a steady falling trend in trip rates since 1995/97, while average distance travelled per person per year remained relatively stable until 2007, then has declined slightly over the last two years.
• Overall in 2009, there were an average of 973 trips per person per year, 1,070 stages, 6,775 miles travelled, and an average trip length of 7.0 miles.
• Most of the fall in overall trips rates between 1995/97 and 2009 can be accounted for by a fall in shopping, visiting friends at private homes and commuting. The last two years has seen a large fall (9%) in the number of commuting trips.
• Since 1995/97 the proportion of men with a full driving licence has remained relatively stable at around 80%, but it has continued to increase among women, from 57% to 65% in 2009. Licence holding also continued to grow among older people.
• Trips by car (driver and passenger) accounted for 63% of all trips made and 79% of distance travelled in 2009.
• On average, females make more trips than males, but males travel much further per year.
• The average annual car mileage has decreased as the number of cars per household has risen, falling from about 9,700 in 1995/97 to 8,420 in 2009. In particular, there were large falls in business and commuting mileage.