National Travel Survey, 2002-2023

The <I>National Travel Survey</I> (NTS) is a series of household surveys designed to provide regular, up-to-date data on personal travel and monitor changes in travel behaviour over time. The first NTS was commissioned by the Ministry of Transport in 1965. Further periodic surveys were carried out in 1972/73, 1975/76, 1978/79 and 1985/86 (the UK Data Service holds data from 1972 onwards). Since July 1988 the NTS has been carried out as a continuous survey with field work being carried out in every month of the year, and an annual set sample of over 5,000 addresses. From 2002, the NTS sample was increased approximately threefold, to approximately 15,000 per year. The advantage of the continuous study is that users will be able to discern seasonal and cyclical movements as well as trend changes over time. The NTS is carried out primarily for the purposes of government. The most fundamental use of the National Travel Survey within the Department for Transport (DfT) is as core base data for key transport models. These are critical to the assessment and appraisal of transport scheme proposals (national and local), transport policy proposals, and contribute to the development of our long-term strategy. The NTS data is used to develop consistent sets of transport policies. Because it relates travel to travellers, it makes it possible to relate policies to people and to predict their impact. The survey provides detailed information on different types of travel: where people travel from and to, distance, purpose and mode. The NTS records personal and socio-economic information to distinguish between different types of people, and the differences in the way they travel and how often they do so. The NTS is the only source of national information on subjects such as walking which provide a context for the results of more local studies.<br>
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Further information may be found on the gov.uk <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-travel-survey-statistics" title="National Travel Survey">National Travel Survey</a> webpage.<br>
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<b>End-User Licence, Special Licence and Secure Access NTS data</b><br>
The UK Data Archive holds three versions of the NTS:<ul><li>the End User Licence (EUL) versions (SNs 5340 and 6108) contain a comprehensive range of NTS data at Government Office Region geographic level and should be sufficient for most research needs. EUL data are available to registered users of the UK Data Service (see the Administrative and Access section below for details).</lI><li>The Special Licence versions (SNs 7553 and 7804) contain more detailed travel (including accidents), demographic and socio-economic data, and the geographic level is Local Authority/Unitary Authority. Special Licence data are subject to more restricted access conditions.</lI><li>The Secure Access version (SN 7559) contains more detailed information and postcode sector geographies. Secure Access data are subject to further restricted access conditions, including the completion of a training course.</lI></ul>Full information about the variables contained at each level are available in the NTS Table Structures spreadsheet, available in the documentation.<br>
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<p>Changes to the methodology in 2002 mean that there are some inconsistencies with data for previous years. Most notably, an under-recording of short walks in 2002 and 2003 affects trends over this period, particularly in the number of trips per person.<br><br>2020 and 2021 Disclaimer:<br>Due to changes in the methodology of data collection, changes in travel behaviour, and a reduction of data collected during 2020 and 2021 as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, care should be taken when interpreting this data and comparing it to other years due to the small sample sizes. Please see the background documentation for further details of these changes.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Latest edition information</span>:<br>For the eighteenth edition (September 2024), data and documentation for 2023 have been added to the study.</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Data labels</span><span style="font-weight: 700;"><br></span>Users should note that the SPSS and Stata files for 2023 have been converted from CSV format and do not currently contain variable or value labels. Complete metadata information can be found in the Excel Lookup table files and the NTS Data Extract User Guide within the documentation.</p>

《国家出行调查》（National Travel Survey, NTS）是一系列家庭调查项目，旨在定期提供最新的个人出行数据，并持续监测出行行为随时间的变化趋势。首次NTS调查于1965年由英国交通部委托开展。后续分别于1972/73年、1975/76年、1978/79年及1985/86年开展了周期性补充调查（英国数据服务机构留存了1972年起的全部相关数据）。自1988年7月起，NTS转为连续性调查，全年每月均开展实地工作，年度固定样本量超过5000个地址。2002年起，样本量约增至原规模的三倍，达到每年约15000个地址。连续性调查的核心优势在于，使用者可借此识别出行行为的季节性、周期性波动以及长期趋势变化。

NTS的核心服务对象为政府部门。英国交通部（Department for Transport, DfT）将其作为关键交通模型的核心基础数据，此类模型对于评估和审评国家及地方交通方案提案、交通政策提案至关重要，同时为长期交通战略的制定提供支撑。NTS数据可用于构建统一的交通政策体系，由于其将出行行为与出行者个体直接关联，因此能够实现政策与特定人群的精准挂钩，并预测政策实施后的影响效果。

该调查详细记录了各类出行的多维信息：包括出行起止地点、出行距离、出行目的及交通方式。NTS同时收集个人及社会经济属性信息，用于区分不同人群的出行特征与出行频率差异。NTS是步行等出行主题的全国性唯一官方信息来源，可为地方性研究提供权威的背景参照基准。

更多详细信息可访问gov.uk平台上的《国家出行调查》官方网页：<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-travel-survey-statistics" title="National Travel Survey">National Travel Survey</a>。

**终端用户许可、特殊许可及安全访问权限的NTS数据**

英国数据档案馆（UK Data Archive）留存了三个版本的NTS数据集：
1. **终端用户许可（End User Licence, EUL）版本**（序列号SN 5340与SN 6108）：包含政府办公区域地理层级下的全套NTS数据，可满足绝大多数研究需求。EUL数据面向英国数据服务机构（UK Data Service）的注册用户开放（详情见下文“管理与访问”章节）。
2. **特殊许可（Special Licence）版本**（序列号SN 7553与SN 7804）：包含更详尽的出行（含事故记录）、人口统计及社会经济数据，地理层级细化至地方当局/单一管理区。特殊许可数据的访问限制更为严格。
3. **安全访问（Secure Access）版本**（序列号SN 7559）：包含更详细的数据集及邮政编码分区地理信息。安全访问数据的访问限制进一步收紧，申请人需完成指定培训课程后方可申请访问权限。

各层级数据集包含的变量详情可查阅文档附件中的《NTS表格结构》电子表格。

### 数据方法学变更说明
2002年对调查方法的调整导致部分年份的数据存在不一致性，其中最显著的问题是2002年与2003年对短途步行出行的记录不足，该问题会影响该时段内的趋势分析结果，尤其是人均出行次数这一核心指标。

#### 2020与2021年数据免责声明
受2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行影响，2020年至2021年期间的数据收集方法、公众出行行为均发生显著变化，且当期收集到的有效数据量有所减少，同时样本规模偏小。因此在解读该时段数据并与其他年份进行对比分析时需格外谨慎。详细变更说明请参阅背景文档。

### 最新版本信息
第十八版（2024年9月）已将2023年的调查数据及相关文档纳入该研究项目。

### 数据标签说明
需注意，2023年的SPSS与Stata格式文件由CSV格式转换而来，目前暂未包含变量标签与数值标签。完整的元数据信息可查阅文档中的Excel查找表文件及《NTS数据提取用户指南》。