Dissatisfaction with public transport and provision for walking and cycling
About 2 mins
Key points
- Dissatisfaction with public transport is highest for cycling infrastructure, with over half of rural residents (55%) and 41% of people in urban areas reporting they are dissatisfied with local provision.
- Across all forms of public and active transport, people living in rural areas are more likely to be dissatisfied than people in urban settings.
Walking and cycling, also known as 'active travel', directly affect our health. Public transport more broadly can link us to public services such as our GP, libraries, schools, as well as travel to work or to visit friends and family, which can all support our physical and mental health. Whether people are satisfied or dissatisfied is a subjective rating, and relates to people's ability to make journeys reliably, safely and without undue stress.
This chart looks at the percentage of people in England in 2024 who are dissatisfied with local bus and train services, as well as local provision for walking and cycling (also known as ‘active travel’), by urban and rural places of residence.
- In England, people are most likely to be dissatisfied with the provision for cycling in their local area. lanes. 57% of respondents indicate dissatisfaction with cycling provision in rural areas and 41% in urban areas.
- In rural areas, a greater proportion of participants report dissatisfaction with buses (36%) compared with trains (31%). In contrast, in urban areas, a greater proportion of participants report dissatisfaction with trains (26%) compared with buses (18%).
- Across train services, and local bus, walking and cycling provision, a greater percentage of people in rural areas are dissatisfied compared with urban areas. This gap was widest for bus provision with a 25 percentage point difference between rural and urban participants. The gap was smallest for walking, with a difference of 8 percentage points.
Increasing active travel, via improved walking and cycling provision, can directly benefit health.
A good public transport system can further encourage active transport – with people walking and cycling more to access transport services.
- The data presented here are weighted estimates from the National Travel Survey, a household survey of personal travel for residents in England.
- A subsample participate in a travel attitudes survey. Participants are asked to rate satisfaction with transport on a five-point scale from ‘very satisfied’ to ‘very dissatisfied’. Dissatisfied is defined as participants reporting ‘fairly dissatisfied’ or ‘very dissatisfied’.
- Survey questions for walking, cycling and buses specifically refer to a respondent’s local provision. For trains, the question refers to all national or local train services but not trams and underground.
- Local provision for walking can include accessibility of footpaths and pedestrian crossings, while local provision for cycling can include availability of cycle lanes.
- The Office for National Statistics Census 2021 urban rural classifications are used. Urban areas are settlements with populations over 10,000 and rural areas are all other areas.
Source: Department for Transport, National Travel Survey, England, 2024
