Transport Statistics for – 2013 update

Introduction

This document brings together a range of facts and figures relating to transport and accessibility within Somerset. All the data comes from public websites, using sources such as the Department for Transport, DVLA, Office for National Statistics (ONS), Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and local authorities. Where possible, comparisons are made with the South West region and/or national averages, and a transport map of Somerset follows the report.

The topics featured are:-

• Licensed vehicles • Access to a car or van • Transport used for getting to work • Length of roads by type • Traffic on major roads • Road speeds and conditions • Bus journeys • Road transport energy consumption • Road casualties • Accessibilty to key services • Railway station usage • Taxis and private hire vehicles • Current transport strategies

Summary Points

• Somerset is strategically well positioned between Bristol and the South West peninsula. The M5 and A303 trunk routes pass through the county, as do the main railways linking the peninsula to London and to , the Midlands and the rest of . • 88% of Somerset’s roads are in rural areas. West Somerset in particular faces challenges with regard to accessibility by road to key services and employment centres, especially on foot and public transport. • Traffic volumes on Somerset’s major roads have increased by around 14% since 2000, and by considerably more on the M5. However, there has been a slight dip since the start of the economic downturn.

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at August 2013 • The greatest expansion in traffic volume has been amongst LGVs, up 45% since 2002. This vehicle category is the only one to have continued to grow during the downturn. Since 2008, volumes for motor cycles and HGVs (lorries) have fallen the most. • The 2011 Census estimated that there were 317,000 cars or vans available for use by Somerset households, 14 per ten households. DVLA figures show there are 363,000 licensed vehicles of any kind. • Compared with the national average, Somerset has a high proportion of licensed vehicles in the category which includes farm vehicles and diggers (3.8%, more than 13,700 vehicles). • Three in five 16-74 year-olds in employment use a car/van as their main means of travelling to work. Somerset workers are more likely than the national average to travel to work by car, bicycle, on foot or to work from home. They are much less likely to use public transport. • The average flow-weighted traffic speed on main roads in the morning peak period has barely changed in recent years and Somerset has one of the highest average road speeds in the South West. • Bucking the national trend, passenger journeys by bus in Somerset have decreased in the past two years. The county has one of the lowest number of bus trips per population in England. • The latest estimated road fuel consumption in Somerset (2009) shows the figure has dipped below 2005 levels, largely caused by a fall amongst petrol-driven cars. • Road casualties have continued to fall. The number of more severe casualties (KSIs) in 2010-12 is down by about a quarter on the previous three-year period, a sharper dip than that experienced in most areas. • Casualty rates per population and per billion vehicle miles also remain below the England averages. • There are ten railway stations in Somerset, most of which experienced growth in passenger usage in the past few years. The largest, Taunton, had almost 1.3 million people entering and exiting the station in 2011-12. Frome has seen the highest increase since 2008-09. • In 2011, there were 1,260 taxi or private hire vehicle (PHV) driving licences issued in Somerset, mostly in Mendip or South Somerset.

Report produced by Mike Smith. Email: [email protected] Somerset Intelligence, at Somerset County Council

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Licensed vehicles

In 2012, there were just over 363,000 vehicles licensed to addresses in Somerset. Of these, almost four in five were cars (see table 1).

Table 1 Number of vehicles licensed in Somerset by type, 2012

Number of vehicles Cars 286,978 Light Goods vehicles (LGV) 39,200 Motor Cycles 16,183 Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) 5,675 Buses and coaches 1,425 Other vehicles (including farm, diggers, 13,736 3-wheelers, ambulances, etc) Total vehicles 363,197

Source: DVLA/DfT ( http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/series/vehicle-licensing/ )

Compared with the national and regional averages, Somerset has a slightly higher proportion in the Other Vehicles category (see table 2). This is probably because of the relatively rural nature of the county, requiring farm vehicles. Indeed, few other local authorities in Great Britain have more in this category.

Table 2 Proportion of vehicles in each type, 2012

Somerset South Great West Britain

Cars 79.0 80.4 83.2 Light Goods vehicles (LGV) 10.8 11.1 9.5 Motor Cycles 4.5 4.2 3.5 Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) 1.6 1.2 1.3 Buses and coaches 0.4 0.5 0.5 Other vehicles (including farm, 3.8 2.5 1.9 diggers, 3-wheelers, ambulances, etc) Total vehicles 100 100 100

Source: DVLA/DfT ( http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/series/vehicle-licensing/ )

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 The South West region has more licensed vehicles per head of population than any other region in Great Britain 1. The rate of 664 vehicles per thousand people is 17% above the British average.

Nationally and regionally, the number of vehicles licensed by the DVLA has increased steadily in the past ten years. Furthermore, vehicle growth in the South West has outstripped that in Great Britain as a whole.

Access to car or van by Household

The 2011 Census 2 estimated the number of cars and vans available to households in Somerset to be 318,697. This is only slightly below the total licensed by the DVLA, which may include vehicles no longer used, or licensed to individuals no longer living in Somerset and who have not notified the DVLA. According to the Census, the number per household has risen in the past decade to 1.4 per household, above the national average of 1.2 per household.

Whilst the most common number of cars and vans accessed is one per household, almost one in six households (36,092) across Somerset have no access (see Chart 1)

Chart 1 Number of households with access to number of cars or vans

Four or more, 7011, 3% Three, None, 17352, 8% 36092, 16%

Two, 68317, 30%

One, 98217, 43%

Source : Office for National Statistics/NOMIS

1 Based on Department for Transport statistics 2012 2 Office for National Statistics http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/census- data/index.html

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Having no access to a car or van has implications for accessing jobs and services, too. While there is little variation between districts, there are considerable differences from one local area to another. In rural areas such as Chewton Mendip and Ston Easton, the Brendon and Blackdown Hills, fewer than 4% have no access to a car or van. However, in the town centre wards of Wells, Yeovil, Glastonbury, Taunton and , it is at least 30%. The highest figure is in Bridgwater Westover, at 37.5%.

Length of roads by type

Somerset has 6,765 km (4,204 miles) of roads 1 . 53 km are motorway (the M5), 712 km are A roads and 458 km are B roads. The large majority are categorised as C roads or unclassified (see Table 3). © Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence

Table 3 Lengths of road in Somerset by type, 2012

km % total Motorway 53 0.8 A road (Trunk) 70 1.0 Other A road 642 9.5 B road 458 6.8 C road 2,209 32.7 Rural Unclassified 2,737 40.6 Urban Unclassified 596 8.8 Total 6,747 100.0

Source: DfT ( http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/series/road-lengths/ )

787 km are categorised as Urban, defined as being in an area of at least 10,000 people. This comprises less than 12% of the total road length in Somerset, well below the regional and national averages (see Table 4).

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Table 4 Urban-Rural profiles of roads, 2011

Somerset South West Great Britain Urban total 11.6 22.0 36.1 Rural total 88.4 78.0 63.9

Source: DfT ( http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/series/road-lengths/ )

Traffic Volumes

The estimated total volume of traffic has increased in Somerset by 7% in the past decade (see Chart 2).

After growing steadily each year from 2000 to 2008, the figure has eased back slightly as the © Copyright Michael W Beales BEM and recession and rising petrol prices licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence have had an impact.

Chart 2 Growth in Traffic volumes in Somerset, 2000 to 2012 4,100 3,952 3,994 4,000 3,905 3,916 3,883 3,900 3,854 3,838 3,800 3,755 3,700 3,709 3,632 3,600 3,587 3,500 3,485 3,400 3,373

Million vehicle miles 3,300 3,200 3,100 3,000 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Source: DfT National Road Traffic Survey: http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/series/traffic

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 By comparison, the South West regional increase since 2002 is 5%. Within the South West region, only Swindon (11%) and North Somerset (8%) have experienced a greater increase in vehicle miles than Somerset in the same period.

Traffic trends can be analysed in more detail by looking at trends for a selection of the 212 ‘count points’ 3 across the county’s road network (see charts 3 and 4).

Chart 3 Trends in Daily Vehicle flow for selected roads (highest daily flows)

250000

M5, J24-25, Taunton-Bridgw ater

200000 M5, J22-23, Highbridge-Dunball

150000

M5, J23-24, Dunball-Bridgw ater 100000 A303 nr Sth Petherton (A356-A358) Peak Daily Peak Flow

50000 A358 nr West Hatch (A303 - A378)

0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Source: DfT National Road Traffic Survey: http://www.dft.gov.uk/traffic-counts/area.php?region=South+West

The M5 between Taunton and Bridgwater not only has the greatest volume of traffic of all roads in Somerset but also the steepest surge over the past ten years, and has not seen a notable dip since the start of the economic downturn. The A303 trunk road has also experienced some pre-recession rises, while flows on the A358 east of Taunton have been more stable.

Chart 4 shows that some routes have actually witnessed slight decreases not only since 2008 but also over the past decade or so, including the A36 near Wolverton in Mendip district and the A30 between Crewkerne and Yeovil.

3 There are three main data sources which are used to calculate annual traffic estimates. Manual traffic counts are carried out at a number of sites throughout the counting season which runs between March and October. This raw data is then combined with information from a network of automatic traffic counters (ATCs) to calculate a series of annual average daily flows1 (average vehicles per day) for each count point. These daily flows are combined with road lengths to calculate the number of vehicle miles travelled each year by vehicle type, road category and region

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013

Chart 4 Trends in Daily Vehicle flow for other selected roads

40000

35000 A39, Nether Stow ey

30000 A361, Pilton

25000 A3088 nr Montecute 20000 A30, East Chinnock (A3088 to A3066) 15000

Peak Daily Peak Flow A36 nr Wolverton (A361 to A366) 10000 A38 Upper High St Taunton 5000

0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Source: DfT National Road Traffic Survey: http://www.dft.gov.uk/traffic-counts/area.php?region=South+West

There have been variations in traffic volumes amongst the different vehicle types (see Chart 5).

Chart 5 Growth in traffic volumes on major roads, Somerset by vehicle type (2000 Index =100) 160 2002 2008 140 Index =100 Index =100 145 120 100 112 107 105 98 97 97 97 93 91 91 80 86 Index 73 60 66 40 20 0 ALL Light Goods Cars Buses & All HGVs Pedal Motorcycles VEHICLES Vehicles Coaches Cycles

Source: DfT National Road Traffic Survey

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 For most vehicle categories, there have been no steady rises or falls over the past decade, with fluctuations caused by a mixture of survey sampling error and genuine behavioural changes resulting from the economic situation.

For instance, pedal cycle flows have been more resilient despite a dip in 2012, but both motor cycles However, the growth in LGVs and HGV lorries have declined (vans) has been almost continuous since 2008. since 2000.

Road speeds and conditions

As a relatively rural county, Somerset’s roads are generally less congested in peak times than in more urban areas. The Department for Transport’s annual congestion statistics show that on locally-managed A roads, average vehicle speed in the weekday morning peak (07.00-10.00) is just over 31mph, consistently above the regional and national averages (see Chart 6).

Chart 6 Average vehicle speeds in the morning peak, 2011/12

40

35

30

25

20

15 miles per hour 10

5

0

t n d e re re o n r le th S th rse i hi a o u E u s SW nd shi o o N o o Devon tsh i gl P m a D il ter w n e Torbay B m Bristol Cornwall W S E ly es ester rn P c c u SOMERSETN. Somersetu o lo lou B G S. G

Source: DfT http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics?post_type=table&series=congestion-and- reliability Despite overall growth in traffic volumes, there has been very little change in peak hour speeds in the past five years.

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Bus Journeys

The Department for Transport Public Service Vehicle (PSV) Survey estimates that in 2011-12, there were 8.6 million bus passenger journeys in Somerset.

This represents a 12% fall since 2009-10 (see chart 7). This is in contrast to the upward trend in numbers experienced in most local authorities across the South West and in England as a whole.

Chart 7 Trends in Bus passenger journeys in Somerset since 2009-10

9.8 10.0 9.4 8.6 8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0 Bus journeys (millions per year) 0.0 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

Source: DFT Bus Statistics (http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/series/buses/)

At 16.2 bus passenger journeys per head of population, Somerset has the lowest figure in the South West and the sixth lowest of any upper tier or Unitary authority in England.

In 2011-12, 82% of non-frequent bus services in Somerset were on time (less than 1 minute early and six minutes late) 4. This is broadly in line with both regional and national averages but slightly below the proportions for Somerset in the previous two years 5.

4 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus09-frequency-and-waiting-times 5 Data supplied by local authorities

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Road transport energy consumption

After increasing between 2005 and 2007, estimated road fuel consumption in Somerset dipped in 2008 then more sharply in 2009, the latest year for which data are available (see Table 5).

Table 5 Trends in Estimated fuel consumption (thousand tonnes of fuel) Buses Diesel Petrol Motor HGVs Diesel Petrol Total cars cars cycles LGVs LGVs 2005 14.1 73.7 175.6 2.8 80.0 49.6 4.2 400.0 2006 14.6 81.2 174.2 2.7 79.1 50.5 4.2 406.4 2007 14.8 85.1 166.4 2.8 86.5 53.2 3.8 412.7 2008 14.5 87.5 159.9 2.7 87.0 53.8 3.5 408.8 2009 14.3 88.9 148.2 2.7 79.2 52.5 3.2 388.9

Source: DECC, DEFRA, DfT http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/energy_stats/regional/road_transpo rt/road_transport.aspx

Note that these data are modelled using emissions data, road consumption factors and estimated traffic flows, and so are subject to modelling inaccuracies.

Data has also been produced by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) at District level (see Table 6).

Table 6 Estimated fuel consumption by Somerset districts, 2009 (thousand tonnes of fuel)

Buses Diesel Petrol Motor HGVs Diesel Petrol Total cars cars cycles LGVs LGVs Mendip 2.7 14.7 27.4 0.5 12.8 9.4 0.6 68.2

Sedgemoor 3.6 26.2 38.2 0.6 27.1 14.3 0.8 110.8 South 3.3 21.7 39.1 0.7 17.4 13.2 0.8 96.3 Somerset Taunton 3.3 20.1 32.8 0.5 19.4 12.0 0.7 88.8 Deane West 1.3 6.1 10.6 0.3 2.5 3.7 0.2 24.7 Somerset Somerset 14.3 88.9 148.2 2.7 79.2 52.5 3.2 388.9

Source: DECC, DEFRA, DfT http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/energy_stats/regional/road_transpo rt/road_transport.aspx

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 is estimated to have the highest amount of fuel consumption, with a relatively high figure produced by HGVs, presumably skewed by M5 traffic flowing through the district.

Road casualties

This report focuses on a few key indicators, placing Somerset into the national context. For a fuller analysis of road casualty data in Somerset, please read the Road Safety Casualty Review 2011 and the locations paper on the Somerset Intelligence website here: http://www.somersetintelligence.org.uk/road-safety/

In 2012, there were 1,529 casualties in road accidents reported to the police, of which 212 were killed or seriously injured (KSI).

Reflecting the national and regional situation, road casualties in Somerset have been falling steadily in recent years, in total and for the KSI category (see table 7)

Table 7 Trends in road casualties in Somerset 2005-09 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 average Total 2,382 2,479 2,228 2,019 1,792 1,652 1,529 casualties KSIs 310 301 274 304 238 224 212

Taking an average of three-year periods, in order to smooth any year-on-year fluctuations, the total casualties in Somerset have dropped by more than a quarter from 2,242 in 2007-09 to 1,658 in 2010-12. This is larger than the

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 norm for the South West and England, and any of the other local authorities in the region, excluding the Isles of Scilly (see Chart 8). The decrease in KSIs is similarly large relative to other areas, with only Bath and NE Somerset registering a larger dip than Somerset.

Chart 8 Decreases in Road casualties, All and KSIs, 2007-09 to 2010-12 for SW local authorities

SOMERSET Dorset South Gloucs Gloucestershire BaNES SOUTH WEST Cornwall North Somerset Swindon Devon ENGLAND Bristol Wiltshire Plymouth All Casualties Bournemouth KSI Poole Torbay

-15.0 -10.0 -5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 % decrease since 2007-09

Source: Department for Transport/STATS 19 dataset

14% of all casualties in Somerset were in the more severe category (KSI), slightly above the regional and national averages. However, casualties in relatively rural areas like Somerset tend to be more severe because traffic speeds are higher.

About half the more severe casualties (KSIs) in Somerset were car users, and just over one in five were motor cyclists (see Chart 9).

Compared with England generally, Somerset’s KSI casualties were more likely to be car users (50% and 36%, respectively) and less likely to be pedestrians (15% and 23%) or pedal cyclists (10% and 13%).

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Chart 9 Breakdown of KSIs in Somerset 2011

Bus or Coach, 1 Other, 2 LGV/HGV, 6 Pedal cycle, 22

Pedestrian, 33 Car, 113 TOTAL 224

Motor cycle, 47

Source: DfT/ Somerset Road Safety, 2011

In terms of all casualties (including slight injuries) as a proportion of the county population, Somerset is roughly halfway amongst other local authorities in the region and better than the England average (see Chart 10)

Chart 10 Total casualties per million population, 2011

4,500 4,000 3,556 3,500 3,174 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 Casualties per millionCasualties population 0

h ll e d n t t e n s t a th n e s o S c ire lly ol vo rs e d E nw o la e ristol N ou sh ci r P g D o W in orbay a l r S emou o n D h B w T B te f n C lymou E omerset S G s o r P ut S Wiltshir h s o ut ou S th Somerset o le B S Is Nor Glouce

Source: DfT/Office for National Statistics 2011

Because accidents on, say, the M5 may be largely unrelated to the number of people living in its proximity, perhaps a more useful statistic to consider is that

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 of casualties per traffic volume. Chart 11 shows that Somerset has a relatively low rate of casualties per billion vehicle miles in comparison with other South West local authorities and England as a whole.

Chart 11 Total casualties per billion vehicle miles, 2007-11 average

1,400

1,200

1,000 741 800

600 514

400

200 Rate per billionRate vehicle miles

0

y l e d t t e s a to lly n s e ir re c ol ci wall e h i rb ris o n la rs sh o P S W Devon e rs lt emouth T B f BaNES Dorset m te i n o Cor Eng o Swindon s Glou Plymouth s S e W th ur u o le South uc o B Is lo S North SomersetG

As in the country in general, Somerset has experienced a substantial decrease in its road casualties in the past 10-15 years. Given the increase n traffic volumes, this is a remarkable achievement.

A more comprehensive analysis of national and local road safety statistics can be found on the Department for Transport website https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for- transport/series/road-accidents-and-safety-statistics

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Accessibility of services

Somerset, and particularly West Somerset, faces notable deprivation in terms of accessing major services such as schools, health services and employment centres 6.

With regard to households with good transport access to key services and work, where the England figure represents an index of 100, Somerset’s index is a modest 71, and other parts of the South West (Cornwall and Devon) are even lower. The average minimum travel time to reach the nearest key services has been estimated for each mode of travel (Table 8).

While travel times for the whole county are not that much higher than the South West and England norms, West Somerset fares a lot worse than the other four districts.

Table 8 Average minimum travel time to reach the nearest key services 7 by mode of travel, local authority, 2010

Public transport //

Walking Cycle Car

Mendip 15 10 6

Sedgemoor 15 11 6 South Somerset 17 12 6 Taunton Deane 15 10 6

West Somerset 21 17 8 Somerset 16 11 6 South West 15 10 8

England 14 9 6

Source: DfT/ Office for National Statistics Accessibility Statistics (http://www2.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/accessibility/index.html)

Average access times by car for Somerset in general are quite similar to the South West, apart from reaching hospitals (above average) and food stores

6 For more detail, see the SINe guidance paper on Indices of Multiple Deprivation http://www.sine.org.uk/people-neighbourhoods/indices-of-multiple-deprivation/ and some indicators are mapped on INFORM Somerset: http://inform.sine.org.uk/dataviews/view?viewId=8

7 Key services listed are Employment centres, Primary schools, Secondary schools, Further Education, GPs, Hospitals and Food stores

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 (below average). The average minimum travel times to reach the nearest key services by public transport or walking also show little variation from the regional average but considerable inequalities faced by those living in West Somerset.

However, average times can disguise a lot of detail, and it is especially interesting to look at the proportion of users 8 who live within a reasonable distance on foot or public transport to understand the scale of the issue.

More than one in five users in West Somerset live beyond the ‘reasonable’ limit for accessing key services by this mode of transport, with the exception of hospitals and primary schools (see Table 9). Around three in four live more than 20 minutes from their nearest town centre and two in five from their nearest FE provision. However, South Somerset fares worst for access to a secondary school.

Table 9 % of users within 20 minutes of services on foot or public transport

Employ- Prim’y Sec’y Further Hosp Food Town ment school * school Educn** GP* -ital** store centre Mendip 92.2 98.3 76.2 88.5 82.9 72.0 88.8 58.9 Sedgemoor 91.6 98.8 79.0 85.8 84.4 74.0 91.6 44.8 South Somerset 87.9 99.1 65.5 72.8 85.3 82.0 91.3 52.8 Taunton Deane 94.8 98.8 75.9 82.6 84.5 62.1 91.2 53.5 West Somerset 76.8 89.9 72.3 59.4 78.5 82.3 72.0 26.3 Somerset 90.3 98.3 73.3 80.5 84.0 74.1 89.5 50.6

* within 15 minutes ** within 30 minutes

Source: DfT/ Office for National Statistics Accessibility Statistics (http://www2.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/accessibility/index.html)

8 These are defined as appropriate to the service. For example, those aged 5-11 for primary schools, working age for employment

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Railway station usage

There are ten railway stations operated within Somerset, owned (in 2012) either by First Great Western or South West Trains.

Almost half of station entries and exits are accounted for by Taunton (almost 1.3 million a year, plus an additional 80,000 interchanges).

Bruton has the smallest number of users, with just over 25,000.

© Copyright Matt Buck and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence

Table 10 shows the trends in station usage over the past few years. All of the stations have experienced passenger growth since 2008-9, with the exception of Yeovil Junction. The largest increase in throughput has occurred at Frome, with a 20% rise in numbers. Crewkerne has seen the greatest year-on-year expansion, of 9%

Table 10 Railway station users in Somerset, 2008/09 to 2011-12

Station 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 % rise % rise Station Facility Entries & Entries & Entries & since since Owner Exits Exits Exits 2010-11 2008-9 Taunton FGW 1,191,558 1,238,006 1,292,774 4.4 9.1 Bridgwater FGW 237,804 264,924 286,732 8.2 18.3 Castle Cary FGW 235,000 259,220 274,798 6.0 18.6 Yeovil Junction SWT 210,786 206,802 207,206 0.2 -3.9 Highbridge & FGW 148,456 157,190 167,220 6.4 14.6 Burnham Frome FGW 121,236 135,180 145,540 7.7 30.1 Yeovil Pen Mill FGW 115,882 126,786 132,364 4.4 19.7 Crewkerne SWT 99,764 114,946 125,254 9.0 26.0 Templecombe SWT 98,852 106,556 112,596 5.7 4.4 Bruton FGW 25,576 25,544 27,362 7.1 16.7

Source: Delta Rail, http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1529

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013

Taxis and Private hire vehicles

The Department for Transport publishes data on licences for taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) every two years, the latest in 2011.

These are for all regions and licensing authorities (mainly lower tier local authorities) within England and Wales.

In the South West, the total number of vehicle and driver licences issued has increased steadily since 2005. In Somerset, the picture is more erratic, although at 31 st March 2011, the latest date at which data is published, there were more licensed drivers than there had been six years earlier, with a move towards dual licences. Chart 12 Type of driver licences issued in Somerset at 31 st March each year

1,600 54 1,400 288 1,200 65 243 212 1,000 65 201 PHV only 800 Licenced Drivers 405 Taxi only Numbers 600 1,150 licensed drivers 983 Dual taxi/PHV 400 789 driver licences 523 200

0 2005 2007 2009 2011

Source DfT / Taxi Licensing Authorities, Taxi Statistics (http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/series/taxis/)

While the total number of taxis has varied in recent years, the number of PHVs has risen steadily, and the number of operator licenses has also increased to reach 125 in 2011 (Chart 13)

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Chart 13 Number of vehicles and operators licensed in Somerset at 31 st March each year

1,000 872 900 2005 2007 2009 2011 800 699 700 619 600 533 500

Numbers 400 278 300 250 195 200 127 125 93 120 113 100 0 Total PHV licences PHV Operator taxis issued licences issued

Source DfT / Taxi Licensing Authorities, Taxi Statistics (http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/series/taxis/) The number of taxis accessible to wheelchair users has also advanced from 99 in 2005 to 189 in 2011, in addition to 14 PHVs.

At 31st March 2011, South Somerset and Mendip had more taxi and PHV driver licences issued than any other district within Somerset (see chart 14).

Chart 14 Number of driver licences and vehicles by district at 31/03/2011

South Somerset Mendip Taunton Deane Sedgemoor West Somerset 450

400 375 368 350 300 250 234 207 214 200 168 162 Numbers 150 118 112 87 100 76 37 50 31 28 20 0 Total driver Total taxis Vehicle licences licences issued issued

Source DfT / Taxi Licensing Authorities, Taxi Statistics (http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/series/taxis/)

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Transport Strategies

Somerset County Council is responsible for highways and co-ordinates transport strategies in conjunction with other organisations in Somerset.

Links to some of the principal documents are listed below:-

The Future Transport Plan 2011-26 http://www.somerset.gov.uk/irj/go/km/docs/CouncilDocuments/SCC/Documen ts/Environment/FTP/Somerset's%20Future%20Transport%20Plan.pdf

Strategies for Active Travel, Freight, Motor cycling and Cycling: http://www.somerset.gov.uk/irj/public/services/directory/service?rid=/wpcconte nt/Sites/SCC/Web%20Pages/Services/Services/Environment/Transport%20st rategy

Road Safety Strategy March 2013 https://www.somerset.gov.uk/irj/go/km/docs/CouncilDocuments/SCC/Docume nts/Environment/Strategic%20Planning/Transport%20Policy/Road%20Safety %20Strategy%202013.pdf

New Major Highway Projects http://www.somerset.gov.uk/irj/public/services/directory/service?rid=/guid/704 285a7-5436-2c10-7fa5-d6f51dde54aa

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013 Map of Key Towns and Transport Routes in Somerset

Produced by Somerset Intelligence at Somerset County Council August 2013