The average number of journeys taken in the UK fell to 921 last year – the lowest number since records began, according to the latest figures from the Department for Transport’s National Travel Survey.
Trips for shopping and commuting falling consistently since the mid-1990s and this year’s figure represents a drop of 16% on the number of trips taken in 1995.
The fall in the number of trips taken by car has fallen since the mid-2000s, in spite of the fact there’s been no change in the number of households with access to car.
So what’s happening on the roads?
Ever decreasing journeys
One of the drivers behind the drop in the number of journeys is thought to be the growing number of people who now work remotely.
However, although 5% of employed people in the UK worked from home last year, the impact upon the total number of journeys taken would be relatively modest as home-working still accounts for a small proportion of the employed population.
A major change in the way we communicate is definitely one of the biggest factors in the drop in traffic though and the rise in social media has seen the average number of visits people pay their friends drop by a third over the last 20 years – down to 136 from 192 in 1995.
And although the number of visits to meet in places outside the home, such as at the pub or a restaurant, have remained constant over the last two decades, the number of visits people pay to friends’ homes has fallen from an average of 145 to just 90.
The recent big rises in fuel costs could also have been a contributory factor as more and more people have had to be more selective about the number of car journeys they take.
The rise of the white van man
Not all journeys are down though as van mileage is increasing faster than that of any other vehicle – rising by 6% in the last 12 months alone.
This will largely be down the boom in internet shopping – four in five households ordered goods either online, by telephone or post in 2014, with the most common items being clothes, books, CDs and travel tickets.
It seems an increase in van traffic is bringing its own problems and just last week Boris Johnson, the London mayor, was bemoaning how vans delivering online shopping orders were clogging up the capital’s roads.
He also predicted that by 2031 there would be a 20 per cent increase in white van traffic because of internet shopping and has called for measures to reduce their numbers.
