Press Statement

Preasráiteas

15 December 2021

Go to release: Transport Bulletin December 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (15 December 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 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 bulletin shows that car traffic volumes remain below pre-COVID-19 levels.

Commenting on this latest bulletin, Nele van der Wielen, Statistician, said: “Today’s figures from the CSO show that car traffic volumes have not returned to pre-COVID-19 levels. Latest available data for the week beginning 29 November (week 48) show that the volumes of private cars in regional locations are still 14% lower than the same week in 2019.

Similarly, the monthly volume of bicycles during peak hours have also not returned to pre-COVID-19 levels. The monthly volume of bicycles during peak hours in November 2021 was 48% higher than November 2020 but still 30% lower than November 2019. However, it is worth noting that the monthly volume of bicycles during off-peak hours in November 2021 was 7% higher than November 2020 and 9% higher than November 2019.”

Further commenting on the Transport Bulletin, Nele van der Wielen said: “Today’s release also shows that the number of new cars licensed in November 2021 rose by 699 vehicles compared with November 2020 and by 491 vehicles when compared with November 2019. There were 119 fatalities on Irish roads in the first 11 months of 2021 compared with 138 in the same period in 2020 and 125 in the first 11 months of 2019.

In the first 10 months of 2021, 6.3 million passengers passed through Irish airports compared with 7.8 million in the same period in 2020 and 32.8 million in the first 10 months of 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 on the CSO COVID-19 Information Hub.

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