Transport 2008

Transport 2008

Transport 2008 is a CSO thematic publication, which brings together a wide range of transport statistics to provide a useful reference source to those interested in the Transport sector. This is the third edition of the publication, the content of which
has been expanded, with new chapters being added relating to Road Traffic Volumes of Irish Registered vehicles. The information contained in this report is sourced from statistics compiled by both the CSO and other producers of statistical data. Some of the key points highlighted in the publication are:

• At the end of 2008 there were almost 2.5 million vehicles licensed in Ireland. Private cars made up 77% of the total, with goods vehicles making up a further 14%. The size of the national vehicle fleet has increased by 65% since 1998

• Of the 2,632,136 driving licences held at the end of 2008, 88% were full licence holders with the remaining 12% being learner permit licence holders. In 2008, a total of 362,163 applications for driving tests were received, an increase of 25% on 2007

• During 2008, 318,931 penalty points were issued a decrease of 2% on the previous year. Of these 76% were issued to males and 24% to females. During 2008, 71% of all points issued related to speeding

• In 2008, Irish registered vehicles travelled a total of 43,790 million vehicle kilometres. This represents an increase of 1.7% on 2007 and an increase of 41.8% on 2000 data. The majority of Vehicle Kilometres Travelled in 2008 was made by private cars (71%), with goods vehicles making up 18% of the total

• In 2008, Irish registered goods vehicles transported a total of almost 246 million tonnes of goods by road. This represents a decrease of 18% on the previous year and an increase of 73% since 1998. A total of 2,207 million vehicle kilometres was travelled in 2008, a decrease 5% on the 2007 figure of 2,332 million and an increase of 66% on the 1998 figure

• In 2008, almost 31.3 million passengers passed through Irish airports, a slight decrease of 1% on the previous year. Of this Dublin Airport had the majority of the passenger traffic (75%), followed by Shannon (11%) and Cork (10%). August was the busiest month of the year for international traffic with over 3.1 million passengers passing through Irish airports

• In 2008, Bus Eireann had a vehicle fleet of 700 buses which travelled almost 96 million kilometres carrying almost 94 million passengers. The peak periods for passengers travelling on Bus Eireann’s City Services were from 8:00 to 9:00 and from 15:00 to 16:00. Dublin Bus carried 143 million passengers and almost 27.5 million passengers travelled on the LUAS during 2008. Irish Rail carried 44.6 million passengers, with Dart passengers accounting for 44.5% of this total during 2008

• At the end of 2008 there were 27,440 public service vehicles (PSV) licensed in Ireland. Of these 19,581 (71%) were taxis, 4,918 (18%) were hackneys, 1,602 (6%) were wheelchair accessible taxis with 1,339 (5%) being limousines

• In 2008, Irish ports handled 51.08 million tonnes of goods compared with 54.14 million tonnes in 2007 - a decrease of 3.06 million tonnes (-5.65%). During 2008 164 cruise ships visited Irish ports carrying almost 146,000 passengers

Transport 2008 is priced at €15.00 and is available on our website http://www.cso.ie

Hard copies available from the:

Central Statistics Office, Information Section, Skehard Road, Cork,

Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2,

or through any bookseller.

For more information contact:

Transport Section
Central Statistics Office

Phone: Locall 1890 313 414/(021) 453 5319/(021) 453 5260
Fax: (021) 453 5299
Internet: www.cso.ie
E-mail: transport@cso.ie

02 November 2009

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