Press Statement

Preasráiteas

13 October 2021

Go to release: Transport Bulletin October 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (13 October 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 an increase in public transport journeys.

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 but the gap between 2021 and 2019 figures is gradually declining. Latest available data for the week beginning 27 September (week 39) show that the volumes of private cars in regional locations are 13% higher than in the same week of 2020, however, car traffic volumes are still 10% lower than the same week in 2019.

Today’s release also shows that figures for new cars licensed rose above 2020 and 2019 levels. The number of new cars licensed for the first time in September 2021 was 6,354 compared with 5,747 in September 2020 and 4,104 in September 2019.”

Further commenting on the Transport Bulletin, Nele van der Wielen said: “Public transport services returned to full capacity from the beginning of September. This is reflected in increasing rail and bus journeys which are at their highest level since the beginning of 2021. The total number of rail and bus journeys is now 70% of those taken in early March 2020 (pre COVID-19).”

 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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