The Department for Transport (DfT) publishes annual statistics on journey times from residential areas to a range of local services.
The indicators provide a number of measures of accessibility by public transport/walking, cycling and car to eight service types: primary schools, secondary schools, FE colleges, GPs, hospitals, food stores, town centres and employment centres.
Estimated travel times
Average minimum travel times to key services vary considerably across the county, ranging from 5 to 100 minutes, depending on the destination and transport type. Travel times tend to be particularly high in rural areas such as West Somerset and parts of the Mendip and Blackdown Hills.
Destination indicators
For each destination type, statistics have been produced showing the percentage of the service user population that can reach the nearest service location within a certain time.
The figures indicate that the majority of people in Somerset can access most key services within 15 minutes by car, while those reliant on public transport or walking face greater geographical barriers. For example, 96% of people in Somerset can access a GP within 15 minutes by car, declining to 51% of those using public transport or walking.
Percentage of service users able to access each service within 15 minutes, Somerset, 2017
With the exception of access to a town centre by cycling, a lower percentage of Somerset residents have reasonable access to these key sites or services by walking/public transport or cycling than is the case nationally. The figures for access to these services by car are also lower for Somerset than the national averages.
For the full national Accessibility dataset see the DfT website.
For data on proportions of households who do not have access to a car - at ward and district level - go to our dashboard.
In 2011, 58,382 people in Somerset indicated that they provided unpaid care, of which 12,313 provided care for at least 50 hours per week. - 2011 Census