Press Statement

Preasráiteas

07 December 2020

Go to release: Transport Bulletin 01 March 2020 to 28 November 2020

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (07 December 2020) published its latest Transport Bulletin. The bulletin captures the impact of 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, the National Transport Authority, Dublin City Council, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Transport.

The data shows that since the introduction of Level Five COVID-19 restrictions, the volume of cars on Irish roads, fell initially in the week commencing 25 October, but has risen consistently each week since. The volume of HGVs is now greater than it was for the same period last year in both Dublin and in the regional locations measured.

Commenting on this latest bulletin, Olive Loughnane, Statistician, said: ‘This bulletin is the second edition to be published since the move to Level Five restrictions in Ireland. The COVID-19 restrictions continue to have a significant influence on traffic volumes, the number of journeys on public transport and travel through Irish airports, which all remain at significantly lower levels than the same period in 2019.

However, car traffic volumes have been increasing consistently since the week commencing 1 November and for the week commencing 22 November were 3.0% higher than the previous week at regional locations and 2.9% higher in Dublin.

HGV traffic volumes are unaffected by the increased restrictions in Dublin. They exceeded 2019 levels for the twenty third consecutive week in selected Dublin locations’.

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 with journeys by rail most severely affected. However, public transport volumes have risen by 3.1% in the last week of November with rail rising by 3.5% compared with the previous week. The volume of bicycles during off-peak hours was 1.4% higher in November 2020 compared to November 2019'.

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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