Press Statement
Preasráiteas
30 October 2020
Press Statement Transport Omnibus 2019
In 2019 there were 2.2 million cars licensed, 113,305 (5.2%) of those were licensed for the first time in 2019
- Irish licensed vehicles travelled a total of 47.1 billion kilometres last year and, on average, each private car travelled 16,352 kilometres
- Half of the almost 1.4 million cars that underwent the National Car Test (NCT) in 2019 failed the initial test
- There were 864 drivers with 12 penalty points on their licences on 31 December 2019, of which 122 drivers received all 12 penalty points in 2019
- During 2019, 191,104 penalty point endorsement notices were issued, almost two-thirds (64.3%) were for speeding and males incurred almost twice as many penalty point endorsement notices as females
- In 2019, 140 people lost their lives on Irish roads and September was the month with the highest number (18) of fatalities
- A total of 227.7 million journeys were taken on scheduled bus services, 48.3 million journeys were taken on the Luas and 50.1 million journeys were by rail in 2019
Go to release: Transport Omnibus 2019
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (30 October 2019) published the Transport Omnibus 2019. The Omnibus presents a comprehensive picture of transport activity in Ireland. The publication is compiled using data published by the Central Statistics Office throughout the year as well as official statistics from other public bodies.
Commenting on the publication, Olive Loughnane, Statistician, said ‘The Transport Omnibus provides a snapshot of the transport sector in 2019. It includes statistics on diverse topics such as penalty points, total kilometres driven in 2019, aviation and public transport.’
Highlights for Editors:
Vehicles licensing and registrations
- There was a total of 2,805,839 vehicles under current licence in 2019, of which 2,174,779 (77.5%) were private cars
- In 2019, 12.7% of new private cars licensed were electric/electric hybrid (14,343), compared to 7.1% (8,567) in 2018
- Of the new private cars licensed for the first time in 2019, 56.6% had an engine capacity of between 1401 and 2000cc, and 91.6% were in either the A or B CO2 emission bands
Driver and vehicle testing
- A total of 3,047,912 Irish driving licences were held at the end of 2019, of which 7.6% were learner permit licences
- There were 186,379 driving tests conducted in 2019 with an average pass rate of 53.9%
- Compared with 2018, the number of driving tests conducted in 2019 increased by 36.7%. The number on the waiting list at the end of the year fell by three quarters (75.6%), and the average waiting time for a test decreased from 11.4 weeks to 5.5 weeks
- Almost 1.4 million (1,390,586) cars underwent the National Car Test (NCT) in 2019. Half (50.0%) of those cars failed the initial test, but 97.0% passed after one or more tests
Penalty points
- Of the 163,118 endorsement notices where gender was recorded, males incurred 108,023 (66.2%) of the total while females incurred 55,095 (33.8%) notices
- Speeding was the most common offence type for both men and women. It accounted for 70.3% of all endorsements for females and 62.0% of the total in the case of males
- There were 864 drivers with 12 penalty points on their licences on 31 December 2019, of which 122 drivers received all 12 penalty points in 2019. The total number of drivers with penalty points on their licences was 511,084
Road safety
- Almost six out of every ten (57.9%) people killed on Irish roads in 2019 were car users, 19.3% were pedestrians and 11.4% were motor cyclists
- Data for 2018, the most recent year for which detailed analyses are available, shows that 78.4% of people killed on Irish roads were male. Almost six in ten (57.5%) of those injured in 2018 where gender was recorded were male
- The clear majority (75.5%) of Irish roads comprise of single carriageway
Aviation
- A total of 38.1 million passengers passed through Irish airports 2019
- In 2019, the Dublin - Heathrow route carried the most air passengers (1,856,475) and accounted for almost one twentieth (4.9%) of all passenger movements in the year
- The most popular country of origin/destination was the UK with 34.9% of passengers, followed by Spain with 12.3% and the USA with 10.1% of all international travel
- One-fifth (20.7%) of air freight was carried on a Boeing 767-300 aircraft while almost half (47.3%) of all passengers were carried on a Boeing 737-800 aircraft
Public transport including taxis and hackneys
- The largest number of journeys by users of the bicycle sharing scheme in Dublin in 2019 took place in the month of July when 376,758 journeys were made
- In 2019, there were 21,326 taxis hackneys and limousines licensed to operate in the state. More than half (52.8%) of these were based in Dublin
- Wheelchair accessible taxis and hackneys represented 14.4% (3,077) of the total small public service vehicles in 2019. This is an increase of 38.6% on the number of the same vehicle type in 2018
- In 2019, almost half (48.3%) of all small public service vehicles were aged between five and nine years, while 5.7% were less than two years old
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