Press Statement

Preasráiteas

10 June 2022

Go to release: Travel Behaviour Trends 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (10 June 2022) published the first of four publications on the results of the National Travel Survey which was carried out in Quarter 4, 2021. The detail in this publication is a subset of the broader data collected. There will be three further publications – “Sustainable Mobility and Transport 2021” to be published on 01 July, “Passenger Mobility and Road Safety 2021” to be published on 08 July, and finally, “Impact of COVID-19 on Travel Behaviour” which will be published on 19 July. The publication today focusses on our travel behaviour, where respondents were asked to provide information on journeys taken on the travel reference day assigned to them.

When this survey was last carried out in the fourth quarter of 2019 (October, November, December), it was pre-COVID-19. A global pandemic occurred in the intervening years between the 2019 survey and the survey carried out in the fourth quarter of 2021. Accordingly, when comparing changes in travel behaviour of over time, the varying levels of COVID-19 restrictions in place during Q4 2021 should be borne in mind.

Commenting on the report, Maureen Delamere, Statistician, said: ”This is the first survey on travel behaviour carried out by the CSO since the COVID-19 pandemic reached our shores, the last one having been carried out in the fourth quarter of 2019, pre-COVID. When the 2021 survey was carried out, there were still varying levels of COVID-19 in the community, with related restrictions in place. Society and the economy had started to return to a new normal.

More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents had taken a trip on the day for which they provided information on their travel pattern. The average number of trips taken by persons over 18 years was 2.9. Tuesday was the busiest day of the week for taking a journey, and the weekend was the least busiest. More than one-quarter (26%) of all journeys taken in 2021 were on a Tuesday, compared with 25% in the same period in 2019. Journeys taken on Saturdays accounted for one in sixteen (6%) of all journeys taken (6% in 2019), while trips made on Sundays accounted for more than one in fifteen (7%) compared with 6% in 2019.

Although car usage has decreased in 2021, private car remains the most common mode of travel. Journeys by car (whether as driver or passenger) accounted for more than seven-in-ten (71%) of journeys taken, albeit decreasing by three percentage points on the same period in 2019 (74%). Trips where the respondent was the driver accounted for 64% of all journeys, compared with 65% in 2019.

With some COVID-19 restrictions still in place in Q4 2021, for example on public transport, and more persons working from home, journeys on public transport decreased in 2021. Journeys taken by bus were down from 5% of journeys in 2019 to 4% in 2021, while rail/DART/Luas journeys accounted for 1% of all journeys, compared with almost 2% in 2019.

Active travel, such as walking and cycling, increased in 2021. The percentage of trips where the main mode of travel was walking, increased by more than three percentage points on the same period in 2019 - one in six (17%) of all journeys made in 2021, compared with almost 14% of journeys taken in the same period in 2019. Cycling journeys also increased – just over 2% of all journeys made were by bicycle in 2021, compared with 1.5% in 2019.

A quarter (24.7%) of journeys taken were for shopping, an increase of three percentage points on 2019. Work-related journeys account for almost one quarter (23.8%) of journeys also in 2021, a marginal increase from the same period in 2019 (23.6%). For work-related journeys, getting a lift or car-pooling was an option for only 2.8% of such journeys. Walking was a more preferred option for one in nine (11.4%) of such journeys.

Only one in sixteen (6%) journeys were visits to friends or family, down four percentage points on the same period in 2019 (10%), which may reflect the varying levels of COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time. Similarly, although gyms, leisure centres, cinemas, theatres, etc. had reopened at this time, some restrictions still remained in place. Less than one in twelve (8%) of journeys were for the purpose of entertainment/leisure/ sports, compared with just over 9% in 2019.”

In relation to those who did not take any trip on the travel reference day, Maureen Delamere, further commented: “More than one in ten (11%) were working from home, while more than half (54%) said they were fully occupied with home duties or had no need or wish to travel outside the home.”

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