Travel in London Travel in London

8. Transport connectivity, physical accessibility and understanding London’s diverse communities
Travel behaviour
This section looks at aspects of travel behaviour by London’s diverse communities, drawing
on TfL’s London Travel Demand Survey over the past ten years of available data (see also
chapter 11 of this report).
In terms of trip rates (the average number of trips made per person per day), women
make the highest average number of trips per day and older people tend to make a
lower number, followed by people on low incomes and younger people (figure 8.9).
The relative number of trips made by each group is informative, with disabled
people making, on average, 32 per cent fewer trips per person per day than the
population as a whole. While overall trip rates have varied, reflecting factors such as
the economic recession at the end of the last decade, as well as an apparent
decline in the most recent year, the relativity between the groups in terms of trip
making has been remarkably stable. It is worth noting that although women make a
higher number of trips, they tend to be shorter. This is likely to be due to ‘trip
chaining’ where several small trips are linked together.
Figure 8.9
2.8
Overall trip rates for an average day by equality group.
2.6
Trips per person per day
2.4
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15
Under 25s Over 64s HH income less than £20,000 Women BAME Disabled All Londoners
Source: TfL Planning, Strategic Analysis.
Table 8.6 shows the frequency with which different groups use the different forms of
transport. Walking is the most frequently used form of transport for all Londoners. Almost
all Londoners walk (in terms of making a recordable walk trip in the LTDS survey) every week
(96 per cent). Disabled Londoners are less likely to walk at least weekly (78 per cent) and
almost all younger Londoners walk at least once a week in London (99 per cent).
The bus is the next most frequently used type of transport in London: 61 per cent of
Londoners use it at least once a week. Younger Londoners are the most likely equality group
154 Travel in London, Report 8