National Travel Survey
The National Travel Survey (NTS) is
a series of household surveys designed to provide regular, up-to-date data on
personal travel and monitor changes in travel behaviour over time.
The first NTS was commissioned by the Ministry of Transport in 1965-1966. Further periodic surveys were carried out in 1972-1973, 1975-1976, 1978-1979 and 1985-1986 (the UK Data Archive (UKDA) holds data from 1972 onwards). Since July 1988 the NTS has been carried out as a continuous survey with field work being carried out in every month of the year, and an annual set sample of over 5,000 addresses. From 2002, the NTS sample was increased approximately threefold, to incorporate roughly 16,000 addresses per year. The advantage of the continuous study on a three-year cycle is that users will be able to discern seasonal and cyclical movements as well as trend changes over time. New variables have been introduced at the start of each new three-year period.
The NTS is carried out primarily for the purposes of government. It is used to develop consistent sets of transport policies. Because it relates travel to travellers, it makes it possible to relate policies to people and to predict their impact. The survey provides detailed information on different types of travel: origin and destination of journey, distance, purpose and mode. The NTS records personal and socio-economic information to distinguish between different types of people, and the differences in the way they travel and how often they do so. The NTS is the only source of national information on subjects such as cycling and walking, which provides a context for the results of more local studies.
Changes to the methodology in 2002 mean that there are some inconsistencies with data for previous years. Most notably, an under recording of short walks in 2002 and 2003 affects trends over this period, particularly in terms of the number of trips per person.
The data for the National Travel Survey, 1988-1997 are in two separate files, one covering 1988-1995, and the other covering 1995-1997. Users should note that both parts contain the data for 1995, and therefore they overlap.
The National Travel Survey, 1995-2001 dataset is combined 1995-2001 data, and supersedes the following datasets which have been withdrawn from the catalogue:
- SN 4108 National Travel Survey, 1996-1998
- SN 4583 National Travel Survey, 1997-1999
- SN 4584 National Travel Survey, 1998-2000
- SN 4585 National Travel Survey, 1999-2001
The latest release is the National Travel Survey, 2002-2006. The study was originally released in March, 2006 and contained data from 2002-2004. The second edition included updated data and documentation covering 2002-2006. For the third edition the vehicle data file was updated with new variables covering commuting, business, private and annual mileage, and the documentation was also updated. For the fourth edition the depositor supplied a file containing replacement weights for the long distance journey (LDJ) data. The method used to calculate the weight excluding the house component had incorrectly assigned the weight from the previously-processed LDJ where the current LDJ date was missing. Less than 1% of cases had been affected, but the weighting variables W4 and W4xHH have now been replaced with corrected versions.
The National Statistics NTS web site contains some detailed information about the survey.
Recent data
