Press Statement

Preasráiteas

03 July 2020

Go to release: Transport Bulletin 01 March 2020 to 27 June 2020

The CSO has today (3 July 2020) launched a new transport bulletin. The bulletin captures the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions on traffic volumes and the number of journeys taken on public transport. This bulletin is compiled using data collected by the Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the Road Safety Authority and the National Transport Authority.

The data shows that COVID-19 restrictions had a significant impact on the volumes of cars and HGVs on Irish roads. This was especially evident in the six-week period from March 29^th to May 9^th, when car volumes fell by more than 70% compared to the same period last year, and there was a reduction of approximately 30% in the volume of HGVs on the roads. The data shows that the effect of COVID-19 restrictions on traffic volumes in Dublin was very similar to the effect in regional locations.

Commenting on the introduction of this new bulletin, Olive Loughnane, Statistician, said: ‘This bulletin analyses traffic counter data from selected sites to examine the changes that have occurred in traffic volumes since 1 March. The COVID-19 restrictions have clearly had a significant influence on traffic volumes and the number of journeys on public transport.

As restrictions ease, traffic volumes are recovering. Data for last week (21 June– 27 June) shows that car traffic volumes at regional sites and in Dublin are now just one third lower than they were for the same week in 2019.’

Further commenting on the Transport Bulletin, Olive Loughnane said: ‘The number of passenger journeys on public transport has dropped dramatically since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. 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. Furthermore, public transport volumes are recovering at a much slower rate than road traffic.’

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

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