Bus travel continues to fall as majority choose to use car

Bus passenger numbers are continuing to drop while the car is still the most popular means of getting to work, according to the latest figures from Transport Scotland.

Numbers are down on bus travel.

The Transport and Travel in Scotland 2016 report published yesterday showed 67 per cent of people travelled to work by car with 63 per cent using the car at least once per week.

The figure for those walking to work was 12 per cent, but that quadrupled to 52 per cent for those people walking to school.

Ferry, rail and – particularly – air passenger numbers and distance cycled increased between 2012 and 2016. Car traffic on all roads was up by 2 per cent from 34,362 to 35,362 on 2015’s figure with 75 per cent of men and 63 per cent of women over 17 having a driving licence.

Humza Yousaf, Minister for Transport, said advances were being made in building a cleaner and greener transport system, but conceded there is still work to do.

He said: “It is welcome that the overall share of walking journeys has increased and there has also been an increase in the number of pupils walking and cycling to school.

“Performance is being maintained in public or active travel to work and the distance cycled in the last five years has increased by 13.5 per cent.”

Bus passenger numbers, however, were lower in 2016 than five years ago and fell 3.8 per cent on last year’s 409 million figure to 393 million passengers.