Press Statement

Preasráiteas

29 July 2020

Go to release: National Travel Survey 2019

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (29 July 2020) published the results of the National Travel Survey carried out in Quarter 4 2019.

Commenting on the report, Maureen Delamere, Statistician, said: ‘In 2019, nearly three quarters of persons aged 18 years and over took a trip on the day for which they provided information on their travel pattern. The average number of trips taken by person over 18 years was three. Of all journeys taken by respondents to this survey, nearly one quarter (24.6%) were taken on Tuesday, while one in five were taken on Monday and Wednesday, 20.3% and 20.1% respectively. Only 5.8% of all journeys took place on Saturday and 6.7% on Sunday.

Journeys by car accounted for close to three quarters (73.7%) of all journeys, either as a driver (64.9%) or passenger (8.8%). Walking accounted for 13.5% of all journeys made while almost one in 20 (4.8%) were by bus. Nearly one quarter (23.6%) of journeys in 2019 were work-related journeys, while more than one fifth (21.3%) were for shopping, and a further one fifth of journeys were companion/escort journeys.

Of all respondents surveyed, 48.5% never use bus services while more than half (51%) never use rail (including mainline rail, DART and Luas) services. Respondents were asked what factors would encourage them to use public transport more. Almost one in ten (9.7%) cited more direct routes. One in sixteen (6%) would like more reliable timetables while better value and greater frequency of service, was cited by 7.1% and 6.9% of respondents respectively.

To encourage more cycling, the availability of safer cycling routes was by far the most common factor cited by respondents (31.7%), followed by better health (20.5%) and more cycling specific routes (17.3%).

Of all respondents aged 18 years and over, 1.5% stated that they own an electric vehicle (EV). When asked what type of EV that had, Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) were by far the most common with 57.8% of electric car owners stating that they had this type of EV, followed by PHEVs (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) which accounted for 17.5% and BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicle) (24.7%).

In 2019, less than 3% (2.6%) of over 18-year olds were involved in a road traffic collision in the preceding year. Young males (aged 18-24 years) has the highest collision rate at 4.3% of that age cohort, with females aged 55-64 years having the lowest collision rate (0.9% of that cohort). Two thirds (67.1%) of road traffic collisions involved a car with another car, of which seven in ten (69.5%) were reported to An Garda Síochána and/or to their insurance company. At an overall level, more than six in every 10 (60.9%) of road traffic collisions were reported.’

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