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 - nearly two thirds of persons (62.8%) gave this as their main reason for not taking a journey. Nearly 18% cited illness as the reason for not making a journey - 10.5% were suffering from a short term illness while 7% were suffering from a long term illness or mobility impairment. Nearly 4% chose not to travel due to weather conditions, while a further 3.6% had no access to transport. See table 6.1 and figure 6.1.
| Reasons for not travelling ,2013, 2014 and 2016 | 2013 | 2014 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Had no wish or need to travel / fully occupied with home duties | 63.4 | 66 | 62.8 |
| Short term illness | 8.6 | 8.8 | 10.5 |
| Long term illness / mobility impairment | 6.8 | 5.8 | 7 |
| No access to transport | 1.8 | 2.4 | 3.6 |
| The weather | 7.9 | 6.2 | 3.9 |
| Travelling abroad | 3 | 2.5 | 3.9 |
| Other incl. cost | 8.6 | 8.1 | 8.3 |
Nearly two thirds of both males and females (63.4% of females and 62.2% of males) who did not travel on the travel reference day stated that they had no wish or need to travel or were fully occupied with home duties. Females were more likely not to have made any journeys due to short term illness (11.9%). Nearly 4% of persons did not travel on the travel reference day due to poor weather. See table 6.2 and figure 6.2.
| Reasons for not travelling ,2013, 2014 and 2016 | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Had no wish or need to travel / fully occupied with home duties | 62.2 | 63.4 | 62.8 |
| Short term illness | 8.9 | 11.9 | 10.5 |
| Long term illness / mobility impairment | 8 | 6.1 | 7 |
| No access to transport | 3.1 | 4 | 3.6 |
| The weather | 3.4 | 4.4 | 3.9 |
| Travelling abroad | 3.7 | 4.1 | 3.9 |
| Other incl. cost | 10.7 | 6.1 | 8.3 |
Over 77% of persons residing in thinly populated areas took a journey on the travel reference day, an increase of over eight percentage points on 2014. By comparison, nearly two thirds (65.9%) of persons living in intermediate density areas and 71.1% of residents of densely populated areas made journeys on the travel reference day. See table 6.3.
| Table 6.3: Percentage distribution of persons travelling and not travelling by degree of urbanisation, 2013 , 2014 and 2016 | |||||||||
| Area | Travelled | Did not travel | Unweighted 2016 sample (persons aged 18 years or over) | ||||||
| 2013 | 2014 | 2016 | 2013 | 2014 | 2016 | ||||
| % | % | % | % | % | % | ||||
| Densely populated area | 71.3 | 70.3 | 71.1 | 28.7 | 29.7 | 28.9 | 10,350 | ||
| Intermediate density area | 66.7 | 63.8 | 65.9 | 33.3 | 36.2 | 34.1 | 146 | ||
| Thinly populated area | 68.1 | 69.1 | 77.3 | 31.9 | 30.9 | 22.7 | 531 | ||
| All areas | 71.0 | 70.0 | 71.3 | 29.0 | 30.0 | 28.7 | 11,027 | ||
| Data may be subject to sampling or other survey errors, which are greater in respect of smaller values. | |||||||||
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