Bus use and car ownership and registration in Aberdeen City: FOI release

Information requested

I’m looking for information pertaining bus use and car ownership/registration in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire over the last five years, 2019-2024.

What is the overall car ownership/registration figures per household in both local authorities?

Has car ownership/registration increased or decreased in both local authorities?

Is there a further breakdown for these figures within each local authority by area/council ward/community?

Is there demographic information such as socio-economic information relating to car ownership/registration in both local authorities?

What is the overall bus use per household in both local authorities?

Has bus use increased or decreased in both local authorities?

Is there a further breakdown for these figures within each local authority by area/council ward/community?

Is there demographic information such as socio-economic information relating to bus use in both local authorities?

Response

I have attached estimates of the average number of cars available per household from the Scottish Household Survey for the years 2019, 2022 to 2024. The survey was carried out differently in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID restrictions and those results are not directly comparable with the years I have included. However, I can still provide these to you if you wish. The changes over time have not been statistically significant at the 95% level.

The survey is designed to ensure a sample size that is sufficient to report estimates at a local authority level. However, further breakdowns within local authorities are limited. I've been able to give a breakdown by some broad household income bands and hope you will find this useful. There might be statistically significant decreases between 2019 and 2024 for some income groups, but this is complicated by the fact that incomes will have increased over that period. The sample isn't large enough to calculate robust estimates for area/council ward/community for each year.

We also publish more information on household car access in table LA4 in the local authority tables available at Transport and Travel in Scotland 2024 | Transport Scotland.

The National Records of Scotland collect similar information on household car access through the census, which is available at lower geographic levels than the attached analysis. However, this is only available for years where the census was conducted (most recently in 2022 and 2011). Census analysis is available through the Scotland’s Census website.

In addition, data on the number of licensed vehicles in local authorities is published by the Department for Transport and is available at Vehicle licensing statistics data tables - GOV.UK in table veh0105.

The attached file also contains estimates of the percentage of people who had used the bus in the previous month and I have provided a breakdown by the broad household income bands. The changes over time have not been statistically significant at the 95% level. We publish more information on frequency of use of the bus in the previous month in table LA11 in the local authority tables available at Transport and Travel in Scotland 2024 | Transport Scotland.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202500496229 - Information released - Annex

File type

Excel document

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14.8 kB