Monitoring and evaluation of walking
and cycling interventions in Scotland
Andy Cope
Director, Research and Monitoring Unit
Sustrans
1. Context
Sustrans in Scotland…
• National Cycle Network
• Connect2
• Active Travel
• School Travel
• Liveable Neighbourhoods
•…
• £3.5m in 2009/10 from Scottish Government
2. KPI ‘sets’
Five distinct areas…
• Engineering
• Education
• Encouragement
• Enforcement and compliance
• Evaluation
3. Evaluation KPIs
Three distinct areas…
• Changes in usage on the National Cycle Network
and other local cycling and walking networks
• Community and wider benefits
• Process monitoring
4. Changes in usage on the NCN and other
local cycling and walking networks
Five distinct indicators/targets…
• Trips on the NCN and NCN links increase 15%
• Of 15% increase in trips, 25% will be new users
• Increase usage on short links by 10%
• Increase commuting trips on the NCN by 15%
• 10% increase in active travel in intervention
locations
5. Data generated: cycle count data
The resource consists of:
• Over 150 cycle counters that we know about
• Data from 34 analysed
• Non-parametric slope estimators
5. Data generated: cycle count data
400
Average change
in the average
daily count over
a one year
period = 13%
Median daily count of cyclists
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Jan-03
Jul-03
Feb-04
Aug-04
Mar-05
Sep-05
Apr-06
Nov-06
Date
7 day median count of cyclists
5 day median count of cyclists
weekend day median count of cyclists
Average change in average daily count
6. Data generated: Route User Survey
6. Data generated: Route User Survey
6. Data generated: Route User Survey
Weaknesses…
• practical
• sampling
• statistical power
• validation
• translational
But the strengths are replicability, deliverability,
growing body of consistent evidence, increasingly
robust in delivery context, useful as evidence
7. KPI example: trips on the NCN
• Several distinct indicators
• 20 counters show +6.3% per annum
• [+1.3% at 14 non NCN sites; +4.5% across all
sites]
•NCN usage increased from 28.3 million trips in
2007 to 31.3 million trips in 2008, a +10.6%
increase
• Positive case studies, e.g. +240% pedestrian
usage increase at Dumbarton
8. Scotland Hands-Up
Context
• Annual hands-up survey of school children in Scotland
(began Sept 2008) providing national indicator of mode
of travel
• Incorporated into Cycling Action Plan for Scotland
• Partnership project: Sustrans (Scotland team and
R&MU) and STCs working in Local Authorities
8. Scotland Hands-Up
Approach/method
• Sustrans provide materials for STCs who pass on to
schools, local collation
• Survey asks about usual or normal mode of travel for the
school journey – how do you normally travel to school
• Survey during a specified week each September
• Response options:
– Walk
- Driven
– Cycle
- Bus
– Scooter/Skate - Taxi
– Park & Stride - Other
• R&MU conduct overall collation, analysis and reporting
8. Scotland Hands-Up
Participation
• 32 Local Authorities across Scotland
2008 – 29 LAs participated, 1,824 schools and 396,337
pupils
2009 – 31 LAs participated, 1,939 schools and 417,474
pupils
Response rate
• Calculated for participating Local Authorities only
2008 – 75.8%
2009 – 82.1%
8. Scotland Hands-Up - Results
Year
Walk
Cycle
Scooter/
skate
Park&
Stride
Driven
Bus
Taxi
Other
Sample
2008
48.3%
2.8%
0.7%
6.1%
22.0%
18.2%
1.4%
0.5%
396377
2009
46.9%
2.3%
0.6%
6.7%
23.3%
18.3%
1.5%
0.4%
417474
100%
90%
80%
Percentage (%)
70%
60%
2008
50%
2009
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Walk
Cycle
Scooter /
Skate
Park &
Stride
Driven
Travel Mode
Bus
Taxi
Other
Primary
Secondary
Independent
SEN
Park
&
Strid
e
Driven
Bus
Taxi
Other
Walk
Cycle
Scooter /
Skate
2008
51.6%
3.4%
1.0%
7.4%
26.1%
8.7%
1.6%
0.2%
2009
49.5%
3.0%
0.8%
8.4%
27.9%
8.5%
1.7%
0.2%
2008
42.8%
1.6%
0.2%
3.6%
12.7%
37.2%
1.0%
0.9%
2009
42.6%
1.2%
0.2%
3.5%
14.3%
36.2%
1.2%
0.9%
2008
27.2%
1.9%
0.6%
7.1%
42.4%
18.3%
0.4%
2.0%
2009
22.6%
1.6%
1.0%
6.3%
53.1%
14.3%
0.2%
0.9%
2008
13.5%
1.5%
0.0%
4.5%
6.8%
47.4%
26.3%
0.0%
2009
4.3%
0.2%
0.0%
0.2%
7.3%
54.1%
33.9%
0.0%
8. Scotland Hands-Up - Results
• 49.8% of children surveyed travel to school in an
active way, either by walking, cycling or using a
scooter or skate board in 2009 compared to
51.8% in 2008
• 2.3% of all pupils cycle in 2009 compared to
2.8% of all pupils cycling in 2008
• 22.0% of all children are driven to school in
2008, this increases to 23.3% in 2009
• A similar proportion of children took the bus in
both years (18%)
9. Our questions to TTSAC
• Wider use of data sets?
• Alternative data sets?
• Analytical processes?
• Wider partnerships?