High Wycombe travel survey

Results updated 23 Apr 2021

Responses

We would like to thank everyone who took part in the survey. We received 294 responses in total.

Findings

We  analysed the content of the responses and the main findings are summarised below.

Walking in High Wycombe

• 25.9% of respondents walk daily
• 35% walk at least once a week,
• 26.5% rarely or never walk
• 6% of respondents never walk
• Respondents who never walk state the reasons are long distances, time constraints, safety concerns and personal health conditions/disabilities
• 71% of respondents walk for leisure or recreation
• 64.5% walk for shopping
• 78% of respondents walk for health and wellbeing benefits
• 54.4% walk because it is more environmentally friendly
• 63.8% of respondents would like to walk more in the future
• Respondents reported the main things that would encourage them to walk more in the future are better separation from traffic, safer road crossings, better quality footpaths and more footpaths

Cycling in High Wycombe

• 52% of respondents never cycle
• 18% rarely cycle
• 13.6% cycle at least once a week
• 5.8% cycle daily
• The main reasons respondents don’t cycle are that they don’t feel safe while riding a bicycle, the routes are too hilly, they don’t own or have access to a bicycle and there are no suitable bicycle lanes or paths for their journey
• Of those who do cycle, 84% do so for leisure or recreation, 32% for travel to work and 26.4% for shopping
• 88% of those who cycle choose to for health and wellbeing benefits, 60.3% because it’s more environmentally friendly and 43.3% because it’s cheaper, quicker and easier
• 44.2% of all respondents would like to cycle more in the future
• 92% of those who currently cycle would like to cycle more in the future
• 83% feel the town’s existing cycle infrastructure is poor or very poor
• Those who currently cycle would be encouraged to cycle more if there were more cycle paths separate from traffic, more bicycle lanes and improved driver behaviour and awareness around cyclists
• 51% of respondents rated the quality of cycle infrastructure as very poor
• 0% rated the cycle infrastructures as very good
• 2.1% rated cycle infrastructure as good

Public transport in High Wycombe

• 49.3% of respondents never travel by public transport
• 35.7% rarely travel by public transport

Private vehicle use in High Wycombe (car, van, motorcycle, scooter)

• 40% of respondents travel daily by private vehicle either as a driver or passenger
• 37% travel in a private vehicle at least once per week
• 81.5% of respondents travel by private vehicle to shop
• 67.3% travel by private vehicle for leisure or recreation
• 58.4% travel by private vehicle to see friends and family
• 79% choose to travel by private vehicle because it’s the more flexible and convenient
• 67% choose to travel by private vehicle because it’s faster
• For 37.2% of respondents using a private vehicle is the only way to get to their destination
• 43.1% of respondents would like to travel by private vehicle less in the future

Traffic congestion in High Wycombe

• 37.1% strongly agree that there is a traffic congestion problem in the town
• 45.2% of respondents agree that traffic congestion is a problem in the town

Parking

• 41.1% of respondents strongly disagree that it is difficult to park near their home
• 34% disagree with this statement
• 41.5% of respondents disagree that it is difficult to park when they go to other places in High Wycombe

What happens next?

The survey findings will inform the development of the High Wycombe Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan and future engagement activities.