National statistics

Collection of short walk data in the National Travel Survey

Reports relating to work to understand and improve reporting of short walks in the National Travel Survey.

Documents

Details

The National Travel Survey (NTS) is one of the Department for Transport’s key sources of data on walking in England, including for monitoring trends over time.

An experiment carried out in 2013 suggested that the way in which data on short walks (those under one mile) is collected in the survey means that the level of walking is underestimated. In 2014, the Department consulted on options for changing the collection of walking data in the NTS.

This work forms part of the Department’s follow-up to the consultation, and sets out plans for changes to the collection of short walk data in 2016. The aim is to ensure that the NTS methodology remains relevant, high quality, and meets the needs of its varied users in the best way possible.

We are publishing as part of this work:

  • a document summarising the work to explore the recording of short walks in the NTS which includes details of the planned data collection in 2016 and beyond
  • a report describing work done by the Office for National Statistics reviewing approaches to weighting to ensure a consistent time series
  • a cognitive study carried out to explore how NTS respondents complete the travel diary, in particular in relation to walks

For the latest NTS publication and technical information, see National Travel Survey.

Contact us

National Travel Survey statistics

Email national.travelsurvey@dft.gov.uk

Public enquiries 020 7944 3077

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

Published 15 December 2015