Journey time statistics, England: 2019
Published 4 November 2021
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/journey-time-statistics-england-2019/journey-time-statistics-england-2019
About this release
This statistical release presents estimates of travel times from where people live to key local services for England in 2019.
Statistics are published at national, regional, local authority and small Census area (Lower Super Output Area) level, for 8 key local services by four modes of transport.
The statistics are designed to represent idealised journeys which are completed at the following times:
- a Tuesday in the second week October of the year to which they relate.
- during the ‘morning peak’ between 7am and 10am.
The journey time statistics series has previously been published for the years 2014 to 2017. Detailed data tables are available online.
For further details please refer to the background information section below and the separate technical guidance.
Headline figures for 2019
Changes to Journey time statistics 2019
Methodological changes:
A number of methodological changes were introduced for the 2019 statistics, including changing the source of the hospital destination dataset. See the Journey Times guidance for more details.
Walk indicators:
Walk indicators are only available for 2019.
Across a range of 8 key local services in England, the average minimum journey times to access the services from where people live are:
- 10 minutes by car
- 16 minutes by cycle
- 18 minutes by public transport or walking
- 28 minutes by walking only
Core metrics
The following core metrics are calculated for the journey time statistics.
Average minimum travel time (minutes). The shortest travel to a given type of service by a particular mode of transport, averaged over an area.
Destination indicators (%). The proportion of users in a given area that can access a service within a given time.
Origin indicators (number up to 10). The number of different services, up to 10, in a particular area that users can reach within a given time.
Journey times to key services
In general, accessing key services in England is usually fastest by car, followed by cycle, then by public transport or walking, then by walking only (Figure 1).
For those key services which are ‘delivered’ from the largest number of locations, journey times on average are shorter. Small employment centres (100 to 499 jobs), primary schools, and food stores have the shortest journey times, whereas the longest average journey times are observed for hospitals and also for large employment centres. In locations where there are the largest numbers of services, the variation between journey times by mode tend to be smaller. However, where there are fewer services available, there is a greater variation between modes, highlighting the relative travel time advantage of car travel to these locations.
Table 1 provides a summary of the number of potential destinations used for each key service type.
Table 1: Number of services considered for each key service type in these statistics, England, 2019
| Key service | Number |
|---|---|
| Employment centres (small) | 17,457 |
| Employment centres (medium) | 10,545 |
| Employment centres (large) | 843 |
| Primary schools | 16,948 |
| Secondary schools | 3,128 |
| Further education | 2,198 |
| GPs | 6,866 |
| Hospitals | 219 |
| Food stores | 23,161 |
| Town centres | 1,211 |
Figure 1: Average minimum travel time, minutes, to nearest service, by key service and mode of transport, England, 2019 (JTS0101)
Table 2: Average minimum travel time, minutes, to nearest service, by key service and mode of transport, England, 2019 (JTS0101)
| Mode of transport | Employment (100 to 499 jobs) | Employment (500 to 4999 jobs) | Employment (5000 or more jobs) | Primary school | Secondary school | Further Education | GP | Hospital | Food store | Town Centres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Car | 7 | 8 | 16 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 20 | 7 | 11 |
| Cycle | 9 | 10 | 30 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 11 | 37 | 9 | 17 |
| Public transport or walking | 9 | 11 | 31 | 9 | 18 | 21 | 13 | 41 | 9 | 20 |
| Walking | 11 | 15 | 58 | 9 | 26 | 34 | 18 | 75 | 11 | 37 |
Figure 2 shows that across 326 local authority districts in England and the four calculated modes, the average minimum travel time to all key services by car has the smallest range, with at least 90% of local authority districts having average minimum travel times within the range of 7 minutes (the lowest) and 13 minutes.
For all other modes, the ranges covering at least 90% of local authority districts are much wider, being between 8 minutes and 25 minutes for cycling, 9 minutes and 28 minutes for public transport or walking, and 9 minutes and 49 minutes for walking only.
Figure 2: Local authority districts average of minimum travel times, minutes, to nearest key services, by mode of transport, England, 2019 (JTS0104)
Urban and rural areas
This report uses the Defra Rural-Urban Classification, based on 2011 Census Output Areas.
The Rural-Urban Classification is used to distinguish rural and urban areas. The Classification defines areas as rural if they fall outside of settlements with a resident population greater than 10,000.
See Defra’s definitions and local authority classification for more details
Urban areas typically have lower minimum travel times across all services and modes of transport. Furthermore, urban areas have lower variation across the 4 modes, with the average minimum travel time to key services ranging between 9 and 22 minutes, compared to between 14 and 55 minutes in rural areas. Table 3 suggests a relative journey time advantage of travel by car in rural areas, and also that the comparative difference between urban and rural average minimum journey times to all key services is lowest for car journeys.
Table 3: Average minimum travel time, minutes, to all key services, by urban and rural area and mode of transport, England, 2019 (JTS0102)
| Area | Car | Cycle | Public transport or walking | Walking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urban | 9 | 13 | 15 | 22 |
| Rural | 14 | 27 | 30 | 55 |
Whilst travel times are higher in rural areas, Figure 3 illustrates that the majority of the population (82%) live in urban areas with similar average minimum travel times to key services across each mode of transport. Rural villages in sparse settings, and rural hamlets and isolated dwellings in sparse settings have the longest journey times, however the population of each of these area types is below 0.5% of the population in England.
Figure 3: Average minimum travel time, minutes, to all key services, by urban or rural area type and mode of transport, with population, England, 2019 (JTS0102)
120 minutes journey time limit
A maximum value of 120 minutes is used where journey times exceed 120 minutes. This means that for some service by mode combinations (particularly for walking and smaller destination sets), the average provided is lower than would actually be the case in reality.
Destination indicators
Destination indicators (%)
The destination indicators reflect the percentage of the service ‘user population’ that can reach the nearest location providing that service within 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes. User populations are different for each service.
User populations
The ‘user’ populations used for each service in the destination indicators are:
- population aged 16 to 74 years (employment)
- population aged 5 to 10 years (primary schools)
- population aged 11 to 15 years (secondary schools)
- population aged 16 to 19 years (further education)
- number of households (all other services).
Similar to the average minimum travel times, hospitals and large employment centres (5000 or more jobs) are the services with the lowest proportions of user populations that can be reached in a set amount of time, which is related to these services being delivered at fewer locations.
Tables 4 to 7 and Figures 4 to 7 provide a summary of the numbers of service users who are able to access each key service within given times for each calculated mode of transport.
Car
Figure 4: Percentage of service users able to access each key service within given times, by car, England, 2019 (JTS0201)
Table 4: Percentage of service users able to access each key service within given times, by car, England, 2019 (JTS0201)
| Journey time | Employment (100 to 499 jobs) | Employment (500 to 4999 jobs) | Employment (5000 or more jobs) | Primary school | Secondary school | Further Education | GP | Hospital | Food store | Town Centres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Within 15 minutes | 99 | 99 | 61 | 100 | 94 | 86 | 97 | 36 | 99 | 85 |
| Within 30 minutes | 100 | 100 | 92 | 100 | 100 | 99 | 100 | 88 | 100 | 100 |
| Within 45 minutes | 100 | 100 | 98 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 98 | 100 | 100 |
| Within 60 minutes | 100 | 100 | 99 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Cycle
Figure 5: Percentage of service users able to access each key service within given times, by cycle, England, 2019 (JTS0201)
Table 5: Percentage of service users able to access each key service within given times, by cycle, England, 2019 (JTS0201)
| Journey time | Employment (100 to 499 jobs) | Employment (500 to 4999 jobs) | Employment (5000 or more jobs) | Primary school | Secondary school | Further Education | GP | Hospital | Food store | Town Centres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Within 15 minutes | 93 | 90 | 33 | 98 | 73 | 60 | 86 | 13 | 94 | 57 |
| Within 30 minutes | 99 | 99 | 70 | 100 | 95 | 90 | 98 | 54 | 99 | 89 |
| Within 45 minutes | 100 | 100 | 81 | 100 | 99 | 96 | 100 | 73 | 100 | 96 |
| Within 60 minutes | 100 | 100 | 88 | 100 | 100 | 99 | 100 | 83 | 100 | 99 |
Public transport or walking
Figure 6: Percentage of service users able to access each key service within given times, by public transport or walking, England, 2019 (JTS0201)
Table 6: Percentage of service users able to access each key service within given times, by public transport or walking, England, 2019 (JTS0201)
| Journey time | Employment (100 to 499 jobs) | Employment (500 to 4999 jobs) | Employment (5000 or more jobs) | Primary school | Secondary school | Further Education | GP | Hospital | Food store | Town Centres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Within 15 minutes | 87 | 76 | 16 | 92 | 42 | 32 | 70 | 4 | 91 | 33 |
| Within 30 minutes | 97 | 97 | 60 | 99 | 93 | 85 | 96 | 34 | 98 | 88 |
| Within 45 minutes | 99 | 99 | 84 | 100 | 98 | 96 | 99 | 66 | 99 | 97 |
| Within 60 minutes | 99 | 99 | 92 | 100 | 99 | 98 | 99 | 85 | 99 | 98 |
Walking
Figure 7: Percentage of service users able to access each key service within given times, by walking, England, 2019 (JTS0201)
Table 7: Percentage of service users able to access each key service within given times, by walking, England, 2019 (JTS0201)
| Journey time | Employment (100 to 499 jobs) | Employment (500 to 4999 jobs) | Employment (5000 or more jobs) | Primary school | Secondary school | Further Education | GP | Hospital | Food store | Town Centres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Within 15 minutes | 83 | 70 | 13 | 89 | 36 | 27 | 61 | 3 | 86 | 25 |
| Within 30 minutes | 93 | 90 | 32 | 98 | 77 | 64 | 86 | 14 | 94 | 56 |
| Within 45 minutes | 96 | 95 | 49 | 99 | 88 | 78 | 92 | 28 | 96 | 73 |
| Within 60 minutes | 98 | 97 | 61 | 100 | 92 | 85 | 95 | 42 | 98 | 82 |
Origin indicators
Origin indicators
Origin indicators illustrate how much choice users have when accessing key services. They measure the average number of key services available to users, in a particular area, within 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes; up to a maximum of 10 locations.
For each selected journey time interval, users have access to more key service destinations by car than other modes (Table 8)
Table 8: Average number of key service destinations available to users within selected journey times (up to a maximum of 10), England, 2019 (JTS0301)
| Journey time | Car | Cycle | Public transport or walking | Walking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Within 15 minutes | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Within 30 minutes | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| Within 45 minutes | 9 | 7 | 7 | 5 |
| Within 60 minutes | 10 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
Urban users have access to more service destinations for each set time interval and mode of transport (Tables 9 and 10)
Table 9: Average number of key service destinations available to users within selected journey times in urban areas (up to a maximum of 10), England, 2019 (JTS0302)
| Journey time | Car | Cycle | Public transport or walking | Walking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Within 15 minutes | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Within 30 minutes | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 |
| Within 45 minutes | 9 | 8 | 8 | 5 |
| Within 60 minutes | 10 | 9 | 9 | 6 |
Table 10: Average number of key service destinations available to users within selected journey times in rural areas (up to a maximum of 10), England, 2019 (JTS0302)
| Journey time | Car | Cycle | Public transport or walking | Walking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Within 15 minutes | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Within 30 minutes | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Within 45 minutes | 9 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Within 60 minutes | 9 | 6 | 6 | 2 |
Background information
About these statistics
This release is based upon modelling theoretical journey times from local neighbourhoods to a range of destination types for England.
The main features of the journey times model are:
The journey times are produced on a nationally consistent basis (as described in the Technical Documentation) allowing variations in transport access across the country to be seen, and different areas to be compared. However, it may be that more specialised local knowledge or more detailed data can provide a more accurate picture for any given area.
Changes in journey times over time may result from changes in the number and/or locations of key service destinations from year to year, or from changes to the road network or to public transport service timetables and coverage. It is also likely that changes to underlying data sets and methodology will affect the results seen in this release, therefore robust conclusions cannot be made about changes over time.
Further information on the data sources, the calculation methodology and the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology and these statistics can be found in the Technical Documentation.
Official Statistics
Official Statistics are produced to the high professional standards set by the Code of Practice for Statistics. However, these statistics have not yet been assessed by the Office for Statistics Regulation.
Details of ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release can be found in the pre-release access list.
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Journey time statistics