Travel to Work Survey 2024

Origin-Destination Lines by Mode

Map shows the ‘as the crow flies’ lines between home and work locations for respondents to the survey.

Toggling through the different modes of transport shows the different distribution of travel patterns for each of the modes.

• The distribution of walking trips is much more compact compared to the other modes.
• There is also a clear North-South concentration of bus trips. Compared with other modes, bus trips are concentrated on a few corridors.
• In contrast to bus trips, micromobility trips are more evenly distributed with a good spread of trips emanating out of the main areas of employment.
• Unlike all the other modes, the main focus of car trips is not Bristol City Centre, but the employment areas of North Bristol especially around Filton.

Average trip length by mode

The table below shows the average trip length for each of the modes. The table confirms the visual impression from the map. The average walking trip is much shorter than other modes. Respondents to the survey with longer journeys to work are more likely to use car or train.

The chart below also shows the average trip length for each mode of transport, but the grouped modes in the table above have been split out into more specific modes. So for example, it is possible to compare the average trip length for electric and non-electric cycles. The data in this chart (and the table above) has been filtered to to remove respondents who mainly work from home.

Proportion of respondents travelling to each postcode area by mode

The chart below shows how respondents travel to their workplaces depending on where they work.

• With the exception of BS1, all postcodes have a majority of respondents travelling to work by motor vehicles.
• For respondents who work in BS1, the most popular method of travel is ‘on foot’, but public transport and micromobility modes also have a high proportion of users.
• The chart also demonstrates that the BS34 postcode area contains a large number of employment sites.

Proportion of respondents travelling to selected workplace sites by mode

The mode proportions for individual workplaces are worth investigating. For example, the plot below compares mode proportions for respondents who travel to the Wessex Water site on the edge of Bath (on the left) with the UWE Frenchay Campus (on the right).

• The big difference between the split of modes is the proportion of respondents who use micromobility modes.

• Respondents travelling to UWE are much more likely to use bikes/scooters to travel to work.

• Both sites have a similar number of respondents, but the overall number of people who travel to work by car is slightly higher for the Wessex Water site.