SECTION 1. Method of Travelling

The first question dealt with the ways in which workers travelled to work, and as in the previous inquiries, only the type of transport used for the longest part of the journey was considered where more than one type of transport was used.

The table below shows results at the three different periods.

The figures for the present survey compare closely with those for January, with the exception that a slightly higher proportion cycled and a slightly lower proportion walked.

It has been pointed out in the introduction to this report that insofar as black-out times are concerned there is rather more difference between September - October and August than between September - October and January.

With regard to the weather, the present survey may be taken as coming in between the other two.

Light (1) = Light engineering and any sort of light munitions work.

Light (2) = All other light manufacturing, e.g. textile, clothing, food, drink, tobacco, paper, printing, etc.

As in January, workers in Transport and Public Utilities and Building workers made use of public transport services rather less frequently than did other groups.

In the Light Manufacturer (2) group the decrease in the proportion walking to work is rather more noticeable than in other groups, and a slight increase can be seen in the proportions using buses and trams.

The increase in cycling is most marked among miners, a slightly higher proportion than before using buses. However, the sample figure for this group is small and the margin of error should be noted.

Other groups show slight increases in the proportion of cyclists as compared with walkers.

In Scotland and the North East there is a decrease in the proportions using buses as compared with January, slightly higher proportions using other methods of public transport. In both these regions and in South Wales there is an increase in walking and no increase in cycling. The increase in cycling is most marked in the South.

It should be noted that results for the South East are not comparable because not all the towns covered in January were covered in the present inquiry. (See Introduction: Sample).

The proportions using different methods in London, the North, North West, North Midlands, Midlands and East Anglia, do not differ significantly from those found in January except for the general slight increase in cycling against walking.

Analysis of these results by sex and by age show similar differences between the different groups to those shown by the January inquiry.

Analysis by size of town, as before, shows higher proportions using public transport services in large towns than in small ones, and higher proportions cycling and walking in the small towns.

The only relative differences is shown in the case of very small towns with a population of less than 25,000. In this group there is a significantly lower proportion using public transport services than in January, 37% as against 46%.

Breakdown by situation of work place shows one interesting difference only:

It will be seen that the increase in cycling as compared with walking is more marked when the place of work is in the outer zone than in the inner, and that there is practically no difference where the place of work is in the central zone.