The Travel Survey
About the study
The Travel Survey is a series of research studies commissioned by Sustrans in collaboration with participating local authorities.
The survey examines city walking, wheeling and cycling development, including infrastructure, travel behaviour, the impact of walking, wheeling and cycling, and new initiatives. The information will be used by Sustrans and local authorities to improve infrastructure, to understand travel behaviour and improve travel around your area.
How can I take part?
We have invited nearly 110,000 households across the United Kingdom to take part in the survey. If your household has been invited to take part, you will have received a letter in the post. Unfortunately, if you have not received a letter you will be unable to participate.
If you have received a letter and are looking to take part, please click on the survey link below and enter the unique access code printed on your letter:
Why have I been selected to take part?
If you have been invited to take part this is because your household has been selected from the Royal Mail’s publicly available list of residential addresses in one of the travel survey’s selected ‘Cities’. We have selected addresses to ensure that we get a representative view of the lives of different groups of people living in the area. The Travel Survey is designed so we can hear the views of all people, regardless of whether they walk, wheel and/ or cycle or not, in the participating ‘cities’.
What will taking part involve?
We would like to invite you to take part in an online questionnaire. This will take around 15 minutes to complete.
The questionnaire will ask a range of questions with a predominant focus on travel, particularly walking, wheeling and cycling in your area, the infrastructure to support it, your travel behaviour and other questions, such as your working status. Taking part is completely voluntary and you can skip any questions you do not wish to answer.
Full instructions on taking part can be found on the letter you have been sent.
Who is carrying out the research?
Sustrans in collaboration with participating local authorities has commissioned The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to carry out the study on their behalf. NatCen is Britain’s largest, independent, social research agency. For nearly 50 years, it has worked with charities and government to find out what people really think about the big issues. NatCen is independent of all government departments and political parties.
What will you do with the information I give?
The information you give will be used for research purposes only. NatCen will remove names and addresses before giving the information to Sustrans. From the information held by Sustrans it may be possible to identify some respondents if they have a unique combination of characteristics e.g. the only person of a certain age, gender and ethnicity within one of the participating cities. Sustrans will share the information with the partner authorities named on the letter inviting you to take part, and may share anonymised data with other researchers like universities on request.
The results will be presented as percentages and statistics in publicly available reports. Individuals will not be identified, and your information will not be used for marketing purposes.
Will I receive a voucher for taking part?
Everyone who completes a questionnaire can claim a voucher. We will only accept one questionnaire per person. Checks are in place to detect fraudulent completions.
We allow approximately 2 weeks for those completing the online questionnaire to receive their voucher, and one calendar month for those completing the paper questionnaire.
Will my answers make a difference?
Your answers will directly influence decisions on transport and on walking, wheeling and cycling policy in your local authority and the work of Sustrans, including the Walking and Cycling Index report. Together with other information, they will be used to inform policy-making and spending of public money, to support residents like you.
Contact us
For further information, please email travel.survey@natcen.ac.uk or call free on 0808 168 1356.
Privacy notice
At NatCen, we are committed to protect your privacy and to being transparent about how we collect and use personal data. We will treat your information in the strictest confidence under current data protection legislation.
Click here to view the privacy notice.
Information on taking part and privacy notice – Welsh
Click here for more information (pdf)