Executive Summary

This survey was designed to understand opportunities to enhance smart and integrated ticketing, and journey-planning services in Scotland. The survey ran from 30th March 2023 to 14th May 2023. It was distributed through social media, and shared further by local news websites, community councils, schools and transport operators. Scottish Government staff were also invited to participate.

1,029 people responded to the survey. 1,011 (98%) respondents had used public transport in Scotland in the 12 months prior. The survey respondents are not a representative sample, and this should be taken into account when considering results.

Travel patterns

  • Walking or wheeling was the most common way to travel, with 83% of respondents travelling this way at least a few times a week.
  • 62% used public transport at least a few times a week.
  • Of those who had used public transport in Scotland in the year before the survey, 79% had made a multi-modal journey. The majority of these journeys included train (80%) and bus or coach (74%).
  • 56% of respondents had made multi-operator journeys. Of these the majority had travelled by train (46%) or bus (45%).

Main themes

The key findings of the survey have been split into three themes: integrated ticketing, smart ticketing and payment types, and journey planning and Mobility as a Service. Improved integrated ticketing was ranked the most important of the three survey themes by respondents, followed by smart ticketing and then journey planning.

Integrated ticketing

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  • 14% of respondents (113 people) had used an integrated ticket in the year before the survey. Of these, 72% had used a multi-operator train ticket. This was by far the most common type of integrated used.
  • Most respondents (91%) agreed that ‘value for money’ would be likely to increase their use of integrated tickets, while being ‘readily available’ and ‘easy to use’ were both seen as key factors by 86% of respondents.

Smart ticketing and payment types

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  • 63% had previously used a smartcard for public transport. 58% of these were not aware that any one smartcard could be used across multiple transport modes and operators.
  • Bus/coach and train users were the groups most satisfied with smart ticketing. 61% of bus/coach users were satisfied with smart ticketing for that mode, while 19% were not. 60% of train users were satisfied, while 21% were not.
  • Ferry users were the least satisfied with smart ticketing. 20% of ferry users were satisfied with smart ticketing for that mode, while 33% were dissatisfied. (To note: This survey was undertaken before CalMac introduced their new Ar Turas ticketing system in Summer 2023 which now offers electronic ‘e-tickets’).
  • A majority of respondents would like to use Tap On (Tap Off) payments and digital ticketing in future (56% and 64%, respectively).
  • 81% of National Entitlement Card users would like to keep using their smartcard for concessionary travel. 64% would like to use the service on an app or their smartphone.
  • 76% of respondents would use smart ticketing in future. Key factors to increase smart-ticketing use are simplicity (88% agreed), ease of set up (86% agreed), and reliability (85% agreed).

Journey planning and Mobility as a Service

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  • 82% of respondents used transport operators’ apps or websites to find public transport travel information.
  • 11% of respondents were aware of the Mobility as a Service pilots funded by Transport Scotland.
  • The most highly-valued features of a potential journey-planning app would be real-time travel information and live disruption alerts (98% agreed).