Guidance

National Travel Survey statistics 2022 user engagement exercise

Updated 28 August 2024

Introduction

This report outlines the steps the National Travel Survey (NTS) statistics team took to carry out a review of NTS publication tables, guided by a focus on the different types of NTS statistics users.

Firstly, an internal review of published NTS tables was carried out based on how often NTS tables are used, measured by requests handled by the team, analysis of table downloads from Google Analytics, statistics cited in media articles and areas where information is duplicated or could be calculated from other tables. Potential new tables were then identified by examining requests for analysis and looking into the review of transport accessibility by the Office for Statistics Regulation. A short survey aimed at users of the NTS was emailed internally to other statistics teams within the department, advertised as part of an article within the department and included in the annual NTS 2021 statistical release published in August 2022 to all external users. The user engagement survey was completed by 16 people and the results from the questions asked are detailed within this report. The whole exercise has resulted in some NTS publication tables being discontinued (data is still collected), some modified and new ones added. A summary of all changes is included towards the end of this report.

Each of the following sections will go through the steps taken in more detail.

Aim of the NTS statistics user engagement exercise

The NTS statistics team have conducted a review of NTS publication tables to better understand how NTS data are used, whether some publication tables can be safely discontinued and whether other information collected within the NTS questionnaire or travel diary would be useful to have regularly published, to better meet users’ needs. The Department’s Improving Transport for the User strategic aim encourages us to apply the three “Ls” when thinking about the user, listen, learn, lead. The NTS is a great way to learn more about the users of transport and this exercise will help to keep NTS users at the forefront of the work NTS statisticians do.

Understanding NTS users’ needs - NTS user personas

An internal user mapping exercise has established that NTS users can be classified using the following personas:

• Transport researchers
• Transport professionals
• Policy researchers
• Transport data novices

An individual user may fit into more than one of these groups depending on their needs.

Transport researchers

Transport researchers use a wide range of different data sources, including the NTS, and typically use the raw NTS data from the UK Data Archive. They do not use the standard tables or reports, as these are typically not sufficiently detailed for them. These respondents want the raw data and are not interested in any visualisations or different presentations of the data. They are confident and experienced data users and understand how to manipulate the data to achieve their goals. They will often perform complex analysis on the raw data or import the data into their own models or databases.

There is currently no requirement to change the service for these users.

Transport Professionals

Transport professionals tend to use several data sources, of which the NTS is one of the most important. For their use of NTS data they will typically use the standard data tables for some queries, and then make custom requests for more specific cuts of the data. They are generally happy to manipulate the data once they have the custom cuts of the data that they need and will perform further analysis and evaluation of the custom datasets. They have a fairly good understanding of the contents of the NTS dataset but may not be fully aware of all the variables. They may want the data in a table form or visualised in some way, depending on their current needs. Typically they would want the analysis from their custom queries in a table form to allow for further analysis.

These users would like the current standard data tables and additional tables for which there have been multiple requests. These tables should be straightforward and explain any limitations where appropriate and allow for graphical outputs.

Policy researchers

Policy researchers tend to use several data sources, one of which is the NTS. They use both the standard tables and custom requests. They will use the data in a variety of ways, including to create reports for the benefit of policy makers, use tables and charts from the statistical release, and some create their own charts from the tables. Their reports are sometimes published for use by interested parties. The tables and charts are used to check statements made by government.

Some of these users’ goals could be better met with easier access to their data requirements via standardised tables that are easily and readily available. However, for some requests the value-added service that the NTS team provide is critical, and for these queries these users will still prefer and need to come to the NTS team directly.

Transport data novices

Transport data novices use a variety of data and information sources, including the NTS. They use data to inform research projects. These respondents had limited or no awareness of the NTS. They typically think the content is highly relevant and very useful. They like the statistical release, charts and tables and feel these are adequate for their needs. They have difficultly searching through the many tables and would like a table finder.

Conclusions from understanding NTS user personas

There are four ways which may improve user experience, reduce the number of data requests and demonstrate the scope and coverage of the NTS data:

• Where there have been multiple requests for a customised table, these could be added as standardised published tables or standard tables modified to meet transport user’s needs.
• There is scope to publish additional tables given repeat policy requests to make the statistics easier to access and readily available.
• Removing any tables that are not needed or viewed less often could reduce burden on searching through many tables by transport data novices to find information.
• An existing table finder spreadsheet will be made available on the NTS statistics collection page to make finding statistics easier from published tables.

Deciding on NTS tables to potentially drop

The first step was an internal review of published NTS tables based on how often NTS tables are used, measured by requests handled by the NTS team, analysis of table downloads from Google Analytics, statistics cited in media articles, and areas where information is duplicated or could be calculated from other tables. The following tables have been identified as low use or not needed and therefore could potentially be dropped. These were notified to users as part of the user engagement exercise in order to seek their views on usage of these tables:

Table number	Table title
NTS0103	Average number of trips by selected transport modes - index: England, 2002 onwards
NTS0105	Average distance travelled by selected transport modes - index: England, 2002 onwards
NTS0204	Likelihood of non-licence holders learning to drive by age: England, 2010 onwards
NTS0307	Average number of trips by trip length: England, 2002 onwards
NTS0408	Purpose of next trip by sex and previous trip: England, 2002 onwards
NTS0411	Trips and distance by commuters by employment status: England, 2002 onwards
NTS0503	Trip purpose by trip start time (Monday to Friday only): England, 2002 onwards
NTS0612	Average distance travelled by age, sex and purpose: England, 2002 onwards
NTS0619	Take-up of concessionary travel schemes by Rural-Urban Classification: England, 2002 onwards
NTS0620	Take-up of concessionary travel schemes by gender: England, 2002 onwards
NTS0704	Adult personal car access by household income quintile: England, 2002 onwards
NTS0806	Deliveries of goods and services: England, 2002 onwards
NTS0807	Difficulties travelling to different locations or services: England, 2010 onwards
NTS0808	Difficulties travelling to work by mode of transport: England, 2002 onwards
NTS9901	Full car driving licence holders by sex, region and Rural-Urban Classification: England, 2002 onwards
NTS9913	Average time spent travelling by purpose, region and Rural-Urban Classification: England, 2002 onwards
NTS9914	Average trip time by purpose, region and Rural-Urban Classification: England, 2002 onwards

Identifying new tables and table modifications

After examining requests for NTS analysis and looking into the review of transport accessibility by the Office for Statistics Regulation, a number of potential new tables with new breakdowns were identified, these included:

• Percentage of stages preceding surface rail stages, by stage mode, region and Rural-Urban Classification of residence
• Percentage of stages for each ticket type and cost of tickets on public transport by age, sex and real household income quintile
• Average number of trips and miles travelled by mode, region and Rural-Urban Classification of residence and trip length
• Average number of trips and miles travelled by ethnicity, mode, region and Rural-Urban Classification of residence
• Average number of trips and miles travelled by ethnicity, trip purpose, region and Rural-Urban Classification of residence
• Percentage of frequency of e-scooter use by age and sex (if sample sizes are large enough on e-scooter use)

Tables to be modified to include information from dropped tables:

Table number	Table title	Table modification details
NTS0412	Commuter trips by employment status and main mode: England	Include average distance travelled from dropped table NTS0411 for the same breakdowns.
NTS0502	Trip start time by trip purpose (Monday to Friday only): England	Include percentages from dropped table NTS0503 for the same breakdowns.
NTS0611	Average number of trips by age, sex and purpose: England	Include average distance travelled from dropped table NTS0612 for the same breakdowns.

Findings from the NTS user engagement survey

Overall, 16 participants responded to the NTS user engagement survey, of which, 5 were policy professionals or local government, 2 transport organisations or consultants, 2 researchers or academics, 1 campaign group and 6 others. In total 6 out of the 16 participants were from within the Department for Transport (DfT).

Chart 1: How do you access NTS data or results? (more than one option can be selected).

The majority of responses accessed NTS data from published material on the National Travel Survey statistics website which includes the statistical release and published tables. There were 5 responses for via third parties from presentations, research reports or media articles and 5 responses for contacting the NTS statistics team at DfT directly.

When asked for brief details of how NTS data is used, answers included:

• To gain an insight into travel behaviour such as why people travel
• Use NTS statistics to calculate trip rates by purpose, mode and demographic characteristics
• These statistics feed into the National Trip End Model and allow an insight into the generators of travel demand
• Inputs into the National Transport Modelling suite
• To inform policy briefings and analysis, such as forecasts for cycling and walking stages
• For background information, generally for personal interest
• To inform research into the values of travel time savings and reliability
• Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) use NTS data to increase understanding of travel behaviour by disabled people and how it compares with that of non-disabled people
• An organisation was particularly interested in the NTS statistics relating to road injuries and safety.
• To inform analysis and publication of research driving change – travel in the twenty-first century, the impact of digital navigation on travel behaviour, decarbonising travel after the pandemic.
• To obtain lots of valuable learning experiences, especially around which town or city has the highest and lowest number of cycling commuters
• To identify questions to help better understand preferences for active travel and not just how people travel
• To model household multi-day activity generation of behaviour
• To support the development of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse’s Local Plan and provide consultation responses on a number of transport related matters which influence the districts

Chart 2: How well does the NTS data meet your needs?

The majority of people found that the NTS data met their needs with 5 people responding very well and 8 quite well. Only 3 people found that the NTS data did not meet their needs very well. The majority of reasons people provided on how the NTS data could better meet their needs was for a larger sample size to allow for more disaggregation, more local area analysis and more representative findings. A couple of people stated that they were not professional users of the statistics and had only discovered the statistics.

Chart 3: Which topics from the published tables or related commentary in the statistical release are of interest to you?

The topic in which respondents expressed the most interest was purpose of travel, with 12 people very interested in these NTS statistics. How people travel is also of great interest, with 11 people very interested in the mode of travel NTS statistics, especially regarding journeys that could be taken by active travel or public transport modes. Comments to this question also showed people were interested in disability and barriers to travel within NTS statistics.

Chart 4: Following a review of the use of our statistics, we are proposing to discontinue a number of our regular tables, which are listed below. If you currently use any of these tables, please could you select the table number and provide a brief explanation of how the statistics are used (more than one option can be selected).

Of the proposed list of NTS tables to be dropped, no more than 3 respondents indicated that they used any one of the tables, however all tables were selected at least once. The explanations provided for using these statistics included:

• Used tables nts0204, nts0408, nts0411, nts0503, nts0806 and nts9901 to calibrate various aspects of the National Trip End Model, however, the published tables are used for estimation and research, when a model calibration is required, the team obtains custom data abstracts from the NTS team.
• Used tables nts0103, nts0307, nts0408, nts9901, nts9913 and nts9914 as inputs into the National Modelling suite and used for creation of the Common Analytical Scenarios.
• Used to help understanding about the take-up of concessionary bus passes on the grounds of age.
• DPTAC find the table on difficulties, nts0808, to be useful as it contains a difficulty on personal disability.
• Does not object to index tables being withdrawn providing the underlying data tables are retained.
• Concerned that the public will no longer know whether travel is difficult for people.
• The bus statistics team use table nts0704 and this table will be useful for the context on levelling up for statistics on car access by household income group.

Chart 5: A number of tables have been identified that could be added. Please indicate if you would be interested in any of the following (more than one option can be selected).

For potential new published tables, the table showing average number of trips and miles travelled by mode, region and rural-urban classification of residence and trip length received the most interest, followed by a table on e-scooter use by age and sex. The reasons that were provided for selecting these tables included:

• If there are significant differences in travel behaviour between ethnic groups, it might be significant for future development of the National Trip End Model
• Mode of travel preceding a rail journey could help to understand where people are cycling or walking to train stations and help understand the interaction between rail and active travel
• Average number of trips split by mode, region and trip length could be useful to monitor progress against the ambition for half of all journeys in towns and cities being walked and cycled by 2030
• Average number of trips by ethnic group, mode and region would be helpful to understand the extent to which the increase in cycling and walking is occurring by ethnicity
• Currently developing policy on e-scooters and need to consider appropriate legislation
• Interested in the use of e-scooters, particularly in terms of how they affect disabled people, both as potential users and as people for whom e-scooters can potentially cause problems
• Rural-urban differences are of interest, given the difficulty of providing public transport in rural areas
• Interested in diversity and therefore it would be useful to compare and contrast data amongst groups
• Useful to know multi-mode travel characteristics
• Useful to compare travel costs across regions

When asked if there was any other content from the NTS questionnaire or travel diary which should be covered in the published NTS tables, for example new topics, further or different breakdowns of current published tables or comparisons with other data sources, answers included:

• Trip chaining behaviour and the variety of modes and purposes in trips from home and trips to home.
• Reporting data for take-up of cycling or walking by hard-to-reach groups by ethnicity, sex, age, disability or mobility difficulties, urban-rural areas
• Vehicle type and usage including fuel type and distance travelled
• How many times a week people make a defined journey
• Relative cost of different modes, increase in the cost of public transport modes (bus, coach, rail) compared to the increase in the cost of driving since 2010
• Inclusion of the take-up of concessionary travel schemes by disability and age. To understand the reasons behind why the take-up of passes by disabled people are very low
• Data on cycling mileage or allowances by local authority
• Activity related to the weather context
• Number of local services, do people live in an area which provides day to day amenities such as a supermarket, dentist, GP, pharmacy, Post Office
• More on the type of vehicle and how it is taxed, for example SUV, electric, average weight
• Typical cost of parking and cost of vehicle mode, for example comparing the cost of driving to public transport

When asked for any other suggestions for thoughts or ideas to improve any aspect of the NTS, answers included:

• To increase the sample size
• To understand how the accessibility of transport can be improved
• To understand how transport can be made more affordable and the restrictions as a result of transport costs
• To make the questionnaire easier to find

Conclusions from the NTS user engagement exercise

The following changes to tables will be implemented in the publication of the 2022 National Travel Survey statistics:

Discontinued tables

• Following feedback on the proposed list of tables to be dropped, there are no strong cases to keep the following tables: nts0411, nts0503, nts0103, nts0105, nts0307 and nts0619. These tables will be combined with other tables, are duplicates of other published tables or can be calculated from published tables

• There were no strong preferences to keep tables nts0620 and nts0807. Following the creation of accessible tables following this user engagement survey, tables have been modified to include new percentage measures and table nts0612 has also been dropped and merged with table nts0611

• All NTS data will remain publicly available on the UK data archive

Retained tables

• Following feedback, the following tables will be kept and regularly published as these tables feed into the National Trip End Model, the National Modelling suite, used by DPTAC and by the bus statistics team within the department, including nts0808, nts0704, nts0408, nts9901, nts0204, nts0806, nts9913 and nts9914

New tables

• There is little interest in the table on ticket type and cost of tickets on public transport and therefore this table will not be published
• The engagement exercise has identified that there is interest in all other proposed new tables, and therefore these new tables will be created and published annually alongside all other published NTS tables Existing table NTS0313 which shows the frequency of use of different transport modes will be modified to include e-scooter use, a new transport mode captured in the NTS interview

Other improvements

• A table finder tool will be signposted alongside NTS tables within the next annual publication to allow tables to be searched and easier to find
• The NTS questionnaire can be found within the NTS technical report and this report is being made accessible and the questionnaire will be easier to find
• The NTS sample size is increasing from 2023 to allow for more disaggregated and robust analysis

Summary of table decisions

Table number	Table title	Decision	Reason
NTS0103	Average number of trips by selected transport modes - index: England	Drop	This is an index table which can be calculated from table NTS0303 and therefore not required.
NTS0105	Average distance travelled by selected transport modes - index: England	Drop	This is an index table which can be calculated from table NTS0303 and therefore not required.
NTS0204	Likelihood of non-licence holders learning to drive by age: England	Keep	This table will be kept as a result of the user engagement survey as this table is used to calibrate various aspects of the National Trip End Model.
NTS0307	Average number of trips by trip length: England	Drop	All of the statistics in this table are also in table NTS0308 therefore this table can be dropped.
NTS0313	E-scooter use by age and sex: England	Modify	This table, which shows declared frequency of use of different transport modes from the NTS interviews, has been modified to include e-scooter use. The NTS team will monitor the recording of e-scooter trips within the travel diary with the intention of publishing statistics based on this data when the sample size is large enough for analysis to be considered robust.
NTS0408	Purpose of next trip by sex and previous trip: England	Keep	This table will be kept as a result of the user engagement survey as this table is used to calibrate various aspects of the National Trip End Model and it is used as inputs into the National Modelling suite.
NTS0411	Commuter trips and distance by employment status: England	Drop	The statistics in this table are also in table NTS0412, however, not the miles per person statistics, these will need adding to table NTS0412 and then this table can be dropped.
NTS0412	Commuter trips by employment status and main mode: England	Modify	The miles per person statistics from dropped table NTS0411 are being added to this table. Statistics from table NTS0411 are used to calibrate various aspects of the National Trip End Model.
NTS0502	Trip start time by trip purpose (Monday to Friday only): England	Modify	This table will be modified to include statistics from dropped table NTS0503. Statistics from this table are used to calibrate various aspects of the National Trip End Model. NTS0502 is viewed more often than NTS0503 according to Google Analytics.
NTS0503	Trip purpose by trip start time (Monday to Friday only): England	Drop	This table can be combined with table NTS0502 and therefore dropped as both tables show the same information but the percentages are calculated in different ways, therefore these can be combined into one table to show both percentages. NTS0502 currently shows trip start time by trip purpose and NTS0503 currently shows trip purpose by trip start time.
NTS0611	Average number of trips (trip rates) by age, sex and purpose: England	Modify	Through the creation of accessible tables this table has been modified to include statistics from dropped table NTS0612.
NTS0612	Average distance travelled by age, sex and purpose: England	Drop	Through the creation of accessible tables this table has been dropped and combined with table NTS0611.
NTS0619	Take-up of concessionary travel schemes by Rural-Urban Classification of residence: England	Drop	This table is ranked low according to Google Analytics and this information is also in table NTS9915. There were no strong preferences to keep this table according to the user engagement survey and we have identified no other users.
NTS0620	Take-up of concessionary travel schemes by sex: England	Drop	This table is ranked low according to Google Analytics and there is not much change in the proportion of eligible pensioners holding concessionary passes by sex over time. There were no strong preferences to keep this table according to the user engagement survey and we have identified no other users.
NTS0704	Adult personal car access by household income quintile: England	Keep	This table will be kept as a result of the user engagement survey as this table is used by internal DfT teams.
NTS0806	Deliveries of goods and services: England	Keep	This table will be kept as a result of the user engagement survey as this table is used to calibrate various aspects of the National Trip End Model.
NTS0807	Difficulties travelling to different locations or services: England	Drop	There is little known use of this table and it is ranked low according to Google Analytics. There were no strong preferences to keep this table.
NTS0808	Difficulties travelling to work by mode of transport: England	Keep	This table will be kept as a result of the user engagement survey as this table is used by DPTAC who find this table on difficulties to be useful as it contains a difficulty on personal disability.
NTS9901	Full car driving licence holders by sex, region and Rural-Urban Classification: 17 years old and over, England	Keep	This table will be kept as a result of the user engagement survey as this table is used to calibrate various aspects of the National Trip End Model and it is used as inputs into the National Modelling suite.
NTS9913	Average time spent travelling by purpose, region and Rural-Urban Classification: England	Keep	This table will be kept as a result of the user engagement survey as this table is used as inputs into the National Modelling suite.
NTS9914	Average trip time by purpose, region and Rural-Urban Classification: England	Keep	This table will be kept as a result of the user engagement survey as this table is used as inputs into the National Modelling suite.
NTS9916	Average number of trips (trip rates) and miles travelled by mode, region and Rural-Urban Classification of residence and trip length: England	New	There have been repeat requests for bespoke tables showing breakdown combinations which are not currently in any published table on average trips and miles travelled by trip length, mode and region, rural-urban classifications of residence. Feedback from the user engagement survey showed that this table could be useful to monitor progress against the ambition for half of all journeys in towns and cities being walked and cycled by 2030.
NTS9917	Average number of trips (trip rates) and miles travelled by ethnic group, mode, region and Rural-Urban Classification of residence: England	New	Currently only one table showing an ethnicity breakdown is published and therefore this table will provide more insight into travel behaviours by the protected characteristic of ethnicity. Feedback from the user engagement survey showed that this table would be helpful to understand the extent to which the increase in cycling and walking is occurring by ethnicity.
NTS9918	Average number of trips (trip rates) and miles travelled by ethnic group, trip purpose, region and Rural-Urban Classification of residence: England	New	Currently only one table showing an ethnicity breakdown is published and therefore this table will provide more insight into travel behaviours by the protected characteristic of ethnicity. Feedback from the user engagement survey showed that these breakdowns might be significant for future development of the National Trip End Model, and also there is interest in diversity and therefore it would be useful to compare and contrast against groups.
NTS9919	Mode of travel proceeding a rail journey by region and Rural-Urban Classification of residence: England	New	Requests for these breakdowns have been asked several times from internal colleagues across the department for evidence on rail policy. This analysis would also meet one of the recommendations of the review of transport accessibility (recommendation 3.1 - Review of Transport Accessibility Statistics – Office for Statistics Regulation whereby statistics by the department should be published on the accessibility of train stations with geographical breakdowns. Feedback from the user engagement survey showed that this table could help understand where people are cycling or walking to train stations and help understand the interaction between rail and active travel.

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National Travel Survey statistics

Email national.travelsurvey@dft.gov.uk