Key findings

• Traffic counter data from selected sites shows a decrease of more than 70% in the volume of cars for the 6-week period from 29 March 9 May.
• The volume of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) measured for selected Dublin sites dropped by 29% or more for six of the seven weeks between 29 March and 16 May, when compared to 2019. There was a lower drop-off in HGV traffic for locations outside Dublin.
• The number of road fatalities from January to June was higher in 2020 than it was for the same period in 2019. It rose from 70 to 73.
• The number of passenger journeys on public transport fell more than 10-fold from in excess of 5.6 million in the week commencing 1 March, to just over 514,000 in the week commencing 12 April.
• Luas data shows that the greatest drop in passenger journeys was for the weeks commencing 5 April and 12 April. Passenger journeys in these weeks were 94.5% lower than the same weeks in 2019.
• Weekly road traffic volumes for cars and HGVs is returning to pre COVID-19 levels at a significantly faster rate than public transport volumes.

Road Traffic Volumes

Source: Transport Infrastructure Ireland

This analysis utilises traffic counter data from selected sites to examine the changes that have occurred in traffic volumes since 1 March. Vehicles are counted when they pass over loops embedded in the road surface. The traffic counters distinguish between different vehicle classes. This bulletin looks at data for cars and HGVs. As road traffic patterns are subject to seasonality, data for each week is compared with the corresponding week in 2019.

The data shows that COVID-19 restrictions had a similar impact on traffic volumes in Dublin and in regional locations. In the weeks when restrictions were most stringent (from 29 March to 2 May) the volume of cars on the roads was more than 70% lower than in 2019. See table 1 and figure 1.

As restrictions eased car traffic volumes increased, but not back up to 2019 levels. Data for last week (21 June – 27 June) shows that car traffic volumes at regional sites and in Dublin remain almost one third lower than for the same week in 2019.

Table 2 and figures 3 and 4 provide an insight into HGV traffic volumes. The decrease in HGV traffic due to COVID-19 restrictions was not as pronounced as for cars. In the first three weeks of March, leading up to the severest restrictions, HGV traffic volumes in Dublin and in regional locations were higher than in 2019, although HGV traffic volume was decreasing in those weeks. Over the course of April and May, Dublin saw a greater decrease in HGV traffic than the selected regional locations.

However, since 24 May, HGV traffic in Dublin has returned close to 2019 levels and the volume of HGV traffic measured in regional locations last week was just 2.3% below 2019. The year-on-year comparisons of HGV volumes for the weeks commencing 12 and 19 April 2020 are both affected by the timing of Easter (21 April, 2019 and 12 April, 2020).

Road Fatalities

Source: Road Safety Authority

There were 73 road fatalities in the first six months of 2020. This compares with 70 for the same period last year.

Public Transport Volumes

Source: National Transport Authority

The number of passenger journeys on public transport has dropped dramatically since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Data in table 4 and Figure 5 shows that the number of journeys taken in the first three weeks of April were ten times lower than those taken in the first week of March. The data shows that only 514,000 journeys were taken in the week commencing 12 April, but it is important to bear in mind that this week includes the Easter holiday.

Data on Luas journeys taken is presented in table 5 and illustrated in figure 6. The data indicates that the impact of COVID-19 on the Luas red and green lines, while very similar, has been slightly greater on the green line.

It is worth noting that the number of journeys taken on public transport is not recovering at the same rate as road traffic volumes.

For further COVID-19 related information go to the CSO COVID-19 Information Hub