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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

13 April 2021

Press Statement Transport Bulletin 01 March 2020 to 03 April 2021

Road fatalities down 54.3% in Q1 2021 when compared with Q1 2020
  • Latest traffic counter data shows the volume of cars on Irish roads for the week commencing 28 March 2021 was 120.5% higher in regional locations and 127.9% higher in Dublin than the same week in 2020 but are still respectively 44.0% and 43.9% lower than the same period in 2019
  • The volume of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) on Irish roads in the week commencing 28 March 2021 was 48.2% higher in Dublin and 37.2% higher in regional locations than the comparable week last year
  • In the first quarter (Q1) of 2021, there were 21 fatalities on Irish roads compared with 46 in the same period in 2020, a fall of 54.3%
  • The number of journeys by bus and rail are almost a third of pre-COVID-19 levels
  • Fuel excise clearances of unleaded petrol were 45.2% lower in February 2021 compared with same month in 2020
  • There was an increase of 42.4% in the volume of bicycle journeys in Dublin City during off-peak hours in March 2021 compared to March 2020

Go to release: Transport Bulletin 01 March 2020 to 03 April 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (13 April 2021) published its latest Transport Bulletin. The bulletin captures the impact of the latest 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 volume of cars on Irish roads has been rising slowly since the start of the year following the move to Level 5 restrictions in December. Car traffic volumes in Dublin locations were 28% higher in the last week of March than the second week of January. The volume of HGV traffic in regional locations across the first three months of 2021 is at a similar level to the same period in 2020, but in Dublin locations is lower compared to the same period last year. .

Commenting on this latest bulletin, Noreen Dorgan, Assistant Principal, said: “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 and early 2020.

Car traffic volumes increased in the week beginning 21 March compared with the previous week in regional locations by 10.5%, though they had fallen back slightly in the previous week due to the 17 March public holiday. For the latest week beginning 28 March, car traffic volumes were 120.5% higher than the same week in 2020 at regional locations and 127.9% higher in Dublin. However, car traffic volumes were 43.9% and 44.0% lower than the same period in 2019 for Dublin and regional locations respectively.  In the week beginning 28 March, car traffic volumes are 2.2% lower in regional locations and 3.1% lower in Dublin when compared with the previous week. There were 21 fatalities on Irish roads in the first quarter of 2021, a fall of 54.3% compared to the same period in 2020.

HGV traffic volumes had remained on par with 2019 levels or higher throughout 2020. Since the start of 2021 regional HGV traffic volumes have broadly followed the same trend remaining close to 2020 levels. However, over the first three months of the year Dublin HGV volumes have been consistently lower than same period in 2020. In this bulletin, we have introduced a table of HGV traffic volumes near Irish ports over the past six months, and the latest week beginning 28 March 2021 shows increases of 15.7%, 49.7% and 45.9% in traffic near Dublin, Cork and Rosslare ports respectively compared to the same week in 2020."

Further commenting on the Transport Bulletin, Noreen Dorgan 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. Since the week commencing 14 February passenger journeys have been increasing slowly every week, apart from the latest week beginning 28 March 2021 when there was a marginal decrease of 0.5% compared to the previous week. For the week beginning 28 March 2021, public transport is now 30.2% of volumes seen in early March 2020. The volume of bicycles during off-peak hours was 42.4% higher in March 2021 compared to March 2020."

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.

For further information contact:

Noreen Dorgan (+353) 21 453 5260

or email transport@cso.ie

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