Research and data in the Scottish Borders: Place

Why is it important to have statistics about transport and accessibility?

Local Authorities set their outcomes and objectives within the context of the Scottish Government National Performance framework, which is themed around our children, our communities, our economy, reducing poverty and increasing environmental sustainability. Transport and accessibility is a cross-cutting theme in all these objectives. Access to services by private or public transport and by digital and telecommunication means is essential to making the region a vibrant, safe, affordable, nurturing and equal-opportunities place to live, work and visit.

Scottish Borders plays its part in the National Performance Framework by working towards making our region the best place in Scotland for every Scottish Borders citizen to live, regardless of their protected characteristics. For this, we need robust information to measure how we are performing as a society and within our communities.

Scottish Borders policy framework 

The 2022-23 Scottish Borders Council Plan is key to our policy framework on how we plan to deliver services in the next few years.  It consists of six outcome priorities, which are informed by an evidence base, including the strategic assessment.  Transport and accessibility is referenced particularly in outcome 3:"Strong, inclusive economy, transport and infrastructure".  You can see how we are doing in delivering on this outcome in our quarterly and annual performance reports.

We are building a strong, inclusive economy, transport and infrastructure by delivering the following:

• South Of Scotland Regional Economic Strategy
• Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal
• Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal
• Regional Prosperity Framework

Our region's transport infrastructure is planned and managed by several Directorates, and is central to our Strategic Development Plan and Local Development Plan. Digital Transformation is also at the heart of Fit for 2024, which aims to transform the region into a vibrant, rural community by making best use of our assets and maximising digital interactivity. Topics include:

• investing in digital transformation of customer services
• enhancing community engagement, participation and empowerment
• best use of assets and resources
• teaching digital skills in schools

Topic areas

There is a large amount of evidence from official statistics to inform our transport and accessibility development, across a wide range of topic areas.

Travel and transport statistics

• The latest statistics on the number of concessionary travel cards issued ot all adults and adults over 60, are available on the Scottish Statistics Open Data platform
• Statistics on public bus vehicle kilometers and passenger journeys, and passengers at train stations, are available on the Scottish Statistics Open Data platform

Access deprivation

• The SIMD 2020 Access To Services indicator, measuring the mean travel time (in minutes) to key services by car or public transport, is available for all Scottish Borders and Scottish Datazones on the Scottish Statistics Open Data platform
• The Scottish Access To Bus Indicator (SABI) statistics, with scores, quintiles, deciles and vigintiles on the availability and frequency of bus services on weekdays and weekends, by Datazone in Scottish Borders and Scotland, are available from the Scottish Statistics Open Data platform

Digital inclusion

• The SIMD 2020 Access To Services indicator, measuring the percentage of premises that do not have access to superfast broadband, is available for all Scottish Borders and Scottish Datazones on the Scottish Statistics Open Data platform
• information is available to download on the Scottish Borders digital inclusion index
• evidence from the 2019 Scottish Household Survey on topics such as people's attitudes to internet use, are available 

Official statistics are available on these topics at Scottish Borders level or sometimes below.  If you live, work or study in the Scottish Borders and would like help accessing and using these statistics, contact the Research and Information team using the contact details below.