Press Statement

Preasráiteas

17 January 2022

Go to release: Transport Bulletin January 2022

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (17 January 2021) published its latest Transport Bulletin. The bulletin captures the impact of the latest COVID-19 restrictions on traffic volumes and the number of journeys taken on public transport. This bulletin is compiled using data collected by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the Road Safety Authority, the National Transport Authority, Dublin City Council, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Transport.

The bulletin shows car traffic volumes before Christmas remained below pre COVID-19 levels and that the number of new cars licensed for the first time in 2021 was 101,853 compared with 84,309 in 2020.

Commenting on this latest bulletin, Nele van der Wielen, Statistician, said: “Today’s figures from the CSO show that car traffic volumes before Christmas have not returned to pre COVID-19 levels. Data for the week beginning 13 December 2021 (week 50) show that the volumes of private cars in regional locations are still 8% lower than the same week in 2019.

The overall monthly volume of bicycles has also not returned to pre COVID-19 levels. However, it is important to distinguish between peak and off-peak volumes. The monthly volume of bicycles during peak hours in December 2021 was 50% lower than December 2019. Contrary, the monthly volume of bicycles during off-peak hours in December 2021 was 8% higher than December 2019.”

Further commenting on the Transport Bulletin, Nele van der Wielen said: “The number of new cars licensed for the first time in 2021 was 101,853 compared with 84,309 in 2020, an increase of 21%. However, the number of new cars licensed in December 2021 was 832, compared with 1,032 in December 2020, a fall of 19%.

In 2021, 9.1 million passengers passed through Irish airports compared with 8.3 million in 2020 and 38.1 million passengers in 2019.”

This bulletin will be updated on a regular basis to measure the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on transport. Future editions will be located on the CSO COVID-19 Information Hub.

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