This report summarises the findings of a research project which examined the relationship between transport availability and participation in sports and active informal recreation; it focused on local facilities. The report used data from the national travel survey and existing research to examine levels of participation in various activities and looked at the main influences on these levels. Factors found to be important, particularly for participation in sport, were age, sex, income, socioeconomic group and the level of car ownership. The mode of transport used to reach a facility was found to vary with the size and location of the facility and the user's personal characteristics. In general cars were most commonly used to reach sports facilities, although in the case of children (the most frequent participants), non-motorised transport was more important; bus use was not great. Walking was more common for informal recreation. Distance travelled to reach a facility varied with the mode of transport used. Since some sections of the population have limited access to cars, it is suggested that a single measure of catchment based on car travel time or distance is unsatisfactory, and it would be more appropriate to define separate catchments for the users of different transport modes. (Author/publisher)
Abstract