At both an individual and collective level, the ‘disbenefits’ of car travel are increasingly apparent (Adams, 1999; Engwicht, 1998; Garling et al, 2002; Goodwin, 2001; Litman, 1999; Newman and Kenworthy, 1999; RAC, 1995; Semlyen, 2000; Sloman, 2003; Stradling, 2002a,b). And yet, in Scotland – as elsewhere – car ownership continues to rise, despite a growing policy focus on reducing car dependency and achieving modal shift. To understand how such efforts might be made more effective, it is important to have reliable information about transport behaviours and the attitudes that underpin them. What is it, for example, that people value about car travel? What do people actually use their cars for and how do they feel about the prospect of making such journeys by other means? To what extent do car users actually feel there are viable alternatives for the type of journeys they make most frequently? If such alternatives existed, what indications are there that they would use them? What are the main considerations that seem to drive individual transport decisions and collective transport behaviours? How do car users respond to possible ‘carrots’ and ‘sticks’ – for example, improvements in public transport or increases in the price of petrol? Does Scotland have a ‘car culture’? In other words, does people’s attachment to their cars go beyond simple considerations of function, availability and convenience? If so, what is the basis of that attachment? To what extent are transport-related attitudes consistent across the Scottish population and what are the implications of sub-group variation for the formulation and implementation of policy? These are some of the questions that this report addresses. Based on data from the 2002 Scottish Social Attitudes survey (SSA), the following analyses provide an overview of attitudes and behaviours across the Scottish adult population as a whole, a summary of the main ways in which those vary across different sub-groups, and a benchmark against which to measure shifts over time. Specifically, the report aims to do the following: • Examine the nature and extent of car use in Scotland, including the frequency with which people use cars and what they use them for; • Address the question of why some people don’t use cars, to see if there are lessons here for encouraging modal shift within the broader population; • Consider the extent to which car users feel there are viable alternatives for the more frequent types of journey; • Provide information on public views of the most important of those alternatives for short journeys, namely bus travel; • Develop a typology of the possibilities for modal shift between car use and bus use for short journeys, distinguishing between those who see themselves as unable and those who would be unwilling to change; and • Offer some conclusions about the implications of the findings for policy. (Author/publisher)
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