Accredited official statistics

National Travel Survey: 2010

Personal travel statistics for residents of Great Britain during 2010 from the National Travel Survey.

Documents

National Travel Survey 2010

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Driver licence holding and vehicle availability

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How people travel

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Why people travel

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When people travel

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Travel by age and gender

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Travel by car availability, income, ethnic group, household type and NS-SEC

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Accessibility

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Vehicles

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National Travel Survey 2010 all PDF files

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National Travel Survey 2010 all XLS tables

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National Travel Survey 2010 all CSV tables

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Notes and definitions 2010

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NTS main sample numbers:1995 to 2010

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Sample numbers for region and area type tables, 2009/10

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Details

Please note that following the release of National Travel Survey 2012, the following publication may contain information that subsequently has been revised.

The National Travel Survey presents statistics on personal travel in Great Britain during 2010. It contains the latest results and trends on how, why, when and where people travel as well as factors which affect personal travel such as car availability, driving licence holding and access to key services.

Update

On 6 October 2011, a set of tables showing NTS results by region, country and area type were published. These tables all have the table name format of nts99xx.

It is necessary to combine survey year data together when producing NTS results for geographic areas below that of Great Britain due to small sample sizes.

Main results

There has been a steady falling trend in trip rates since 1995. Average distance travelled per person per year remained relatively stable until 2007, but has declined slightly over the last three years.

Between 1995 and 2010, overall trips rates fell by 12%. Trips by private modes of transport fell by 14% while public transport modes increased by 8%. Walking trips saw the largest decrease.

Most of the decline in overall trips rates between 1995, 1997 and 2010 can be accounted for by a fall in shopping and visiting friends.

In 2010:

  • an average of 960 trips per person per year, the lowest level since the mid 1970s. There were 1,061 stages, 6,726 miles travelled, and an average trip length of 7.0 miles
  • 80% of males and 66% of females held a full car driving licence. While the proportion of males holding a licence remained fairly stable since the early 1990’s, the proportion of females with a licence continued to increase
  • trips by car (as a driver or passenger) accounted for 64% of all trips made and 78% of distance travelled
  • on average, females make more trips than males, but males travel much further each year
  • concessionary travel pass take up was 78% of those eligible
  • average annual car mileage was estimated to be 8,430 miles

Further information including the technical report, standard error estimates for 2009 and the UKSA assessment can be found at the National Travel Survey page.

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National Travel Survey statistics

Updates to this page

Published 28 July 2011

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