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Why we didn't travel

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By far, the most common reason why people did not travel on the travel reference day was that they had no wish or need to travel or were fully occupied with home duties (66.0%). A further 8.8% were suffering from a short term illness, while just over 6% chose not to travel due to weather conditions.

Reasons for not travelling201220132014
Had no wish or need
to travel / fully occupied
with home duties
61.663.466
Short term illness9.28.68.8
Long term illness/
mobility impairment
6.86.85.8
No access to transport3.21.82.4
Cost2.91.61.5
The weather5.27.96.2
Travelling abroad332.5
Other8.176.6
6.1 Reasons for not travelling, 2013, 2014 and 2016

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Females were more likely not to have travelled due to having no wish or need to travel or being fully occupied with home duties, with 67.6% of females choosing not to travel for one or more of these reasons. The corresponding figure for males was 64.4%. Females were more likely not to have made any journeys due to short term illness (9.7%). Over 6% of persons did not travel on the travel reference day due to poor weather.

Reasons for not
travelling by
gender, 2014
MaleFemaleTotal
Had no wish or
need to travel / fully occupied
with home duties
64.367.666
Short term illness7.99.78.8
Long term illness /
mobility impairment
5.95.75.8
Lack of access
to transport or
cost or poor weather
10.99.510.2
Other10.97.49.1
6.2: Reasons for not travelling by gender, 2013, 2014 and 2016

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Table 6.3 shows the percentage distribution of persons travelling and not travelling by degree of urbanisation.

Table 6.3: Percentage distribution of persons travelling and not travelling by degree of urbanisation, 2012 , 2013 and 2014
AreaTravelled Did not travelUnweighted 2014 sample (persons aged 18 years or over)
201220132014 201220132014
 %%% %%%
Densely populated area73.771.370.3 26.328.729.79,682
Intermediate density area72.566.763.8 27.533.336.2258
Thinly populated area72.468.169.1 27.631.930.9442
All areas73.271.070.0 26.829.030.010,382
Data may be subject to sampling or other survey errors, which are greater in respect of smaller values.

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