IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

Travel time is the factor that influenced most households’ choice of transport. This is just one of the findings of the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) in 2013 for the National Department of Transport.

At a national level, 32,6% of households indicated that travel time was the primary determinant of their transport choice. This was followed by travel cost (26,1%) and flexibility (9,2%). When provinces are compared, North West had the highest proportion of households (43,2%) who stated that travel time was the main factor that determined their choice of mode of travel. The only two provinces where travel cost was the main determinant for travel mode choice was Western Cape and Free State.

This represents a significant change from the NHTS conducted in 2003, when almost half of households indicated that safety from accidents was the biggest determinant of choice of mode of travel. At the time this was followed by travel time (15,3%) and travel cost (13,3%). In 2013, safety from accidents made it into the top 3 determinants of mode of transport in only 3 provinces, namely Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West, though in much smaller percentages than in 2003.

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