ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the non-spatial characteristics of journeys, including their timing, duration, frequency and method or —in the specialist term —mode. As well as describing these characteristics as they occur in British cities, some aspects of the decision process of trip-making will be reviewed. Information will later be given about the geographical characteristics of journeys, reflecting their particular interest to the aims of this volume. The aspatial characteristics of urban journeys are particularly important for the design and efficiency of an urban transport system, for it is the concentration of movements at particular times which leads to the highest or peak demands on each modal system. Consequently those concerned with the management and planning of transport systems have been very active in monitoring and predicting volumes of movement, and when, where, how and how often movements occur. Numerous surveys of transport and travel have been carried out in Britain in recent decades, and although many may be faulted on the grounds of their selective coverage and their over-simplicity, they do provide a very wide and useful body of information which can be drawn upon to illustrate this section.
