Key findings

• The latest counter data shows that car traffic volumes have been increasing slowly throughout February, though remain at a low level following the move to Level 5 restrictions on 27 December. Overall, car volumes for the week commencing 21 February were still 48.7% lower in regional locations and 46.1% lower in Dublin than the same week in 2020
• The volume of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) have dropped in both Dublin and regional locations since week commencing 27 December when compared to same periods in the previous year
• There were 11 fatalities on Irish roads in the first two months of 2021 compared to 28 in the same period in 2020, a fall of 60.7%
• The volume of petrol fuel excise clearances in January 2021 was 51.4% lower than January 2020
• The number of journeys taken by bus and rail, following recent restrictions is now a quarter (25.2%) of the journeys taken at the start of the COVID-19 crisis
• The pace of recovery of road traffic volumes for cars and HGVs to pre COVID-19 levels continues to outstrip that of public transport passenger numbers
• Decrease of 12.4% in the volume of cyclists in Dublin city during off-peak hours in February 2021 compared to February 2020
• There was a 15.6% decrease in the number of new private cars licensed in the first two months of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020
• COVID-19 continues to have a major impact on airport passenger numbers

Road Traffic Volumes

Source: Transport Infrastructure Ireland

Following the re-introduction of Level 5 restrictions on 27 December, car traffic volumes dropped significantly but have been growing slowly over the last few weeks of January and February. In week commencing 21 February, there was an increase in car traffic volumes compared to the previous week for both Dublin and regional sites of 4.7% and 3.9% respectively. The latest data shows that car traffic volumes were 46.1% lower in Dublin than the same week in 2020.

The data, which is illustrated in figures 1 and 2, shows the impact of COVID-19 on traffic volumes since the beginning of March 2020. In the weeks when restrictions were most stringent (from 29 March to 2 May) the volume of cars on the roads was more than 70% lower than in 2019. The volume of private cars for the week commencing 21 February was 48.7% lower in regional locations than the corresponding week in 2020. See table 1 and figure 1.

The impact on HGV traffic of COVID-19 restrictions has not been as pronounced as for cars. In general, from June 2020 onwards HGV traffic volumes exceeded 2019 levels, particularly in the lead-up to Christmas. However, since the beginning of the year HGV traffic volumes in both regional and Dublin locations have remained below January and February 2020 levels. In week beginning 31 January, HGV volumes were 13.6% lower in Dublin and 3.7% lower in regional locations compared to the same period in 2020. For the latest data available, for week beginning 21 February, HGV traffic volumes are 11.0% lower in Dublin and 2.8% lower in regional sites. Table 2 and figures 3 and 4 provide an insight into HGV traffic volumes.

Fuel excise clearances

Source: Office of the Revenue Commissioners

The Revenue Commissioners collect statistics on the volumes of fuel clearances covered by excise taxes. Clearances reflect the excise duties paid on oil removed from tax warehouses. Clearances data provide a proxy for sales and the associated level of consumption but do not reflect actual consumption per se. 

Clearances of unleaded petrol in January 2021 were 51.4% lower than the level in January 2020 indicating a very substantial decrease in car traffic by households as a result of travel restrictions during lockdown. At 38 million litres, this brings clearance volumes of petrol to similarly low levels as the first lockdown restrictions in April and May 2020. See table 3 and figure 4.

There was a decrease of 33.7% in clearances of autodiesel in January 2021 compared with January 2020 (see Table 1A). This decrease indicates a similar trend to unleaded petrol with travel restrictions reducing the amount of traffic on the roads and thus the demand for road fuels. See full release Fuel excise clearances January 2021.

Vehicles Licensed

Source: Department of Transport

In the first two months of 2021, 28,620 new private cars were licensed for the first time, a decrease of 15.6% compared with the previous year. The number of used (imported) private cars licensed increased slightly by 0.2% to 14,805 in the first two months of 2021 compared with 14,770 in the same period in 2020. Overall 43,425 new and used private cars were licensed in the first two months of 2021. The number of new hybrid and new electric cars licensed between January and February grew by 2,155 (38.0%) and 291 (28.6%) respectively despite an overall drop in new cars licensed for the period. There was an annual decrease of 12.0% in the number of new cars licensed in the month of February. See Vehicles licensed for the first time February 2021.

Road Fatalities

Source: Road Safety Authority

There were 11 fatalities on Irish roads in the first two months of 2021 compared with 28 in the same period in 2020, a drop of 60.7%.

Note: data is provisional.

Public Transport Volumes

Source: National Transport Authority

The number of passenger journeys on public transport has dropped dramatically since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Data relating to bus and rail journeys is presented in table 6 and figure 7.

The use of bus and rail services had fallen significantly since the re-introduction of Level 5 restrictions in Ireland on 27 December. The total number of bus and rail journeys taken during the week commencing 07 February was over one-fifth (22.5%) of those taken in early March. The number of bus journeys outside of Dublin in the same week was 26.1% of pre COVID-19 levels. The corresponding level for bus journeys within Dublin was a quarter (24.8%) of pre-COVID levels. The latest data shows that for week commencing 21 February, the total number of rail and bus journeys is a quarter (25.2%) of those taken in early March. The corresponding figure for bus journeys outside of Dublin is 27.4% of those taken in early March.

The data indicates that rail was the mode of transport that was most severely hit since the onset of the crisis. In the week commencing 05 April the number of journeys undertaken was 97.2% lower than it was in the first week of March of this year. For the latest week under consideration, 21 February – 28 February the number of journeys by rail was 87.4% lower than pre COVID-19 levels. While other modes of transport increased slightly in week beginning 21 February over the previous week, rail fell by 2.5%. Rail data includes passenger journeys on Intercity and DART services. 

Data on Luas journeys taken is presented in table 7 and illustrated in figure 8. The data indicates that the impact of COVID-19 on the Luas red and green lines, while very similar, has been slightly greater on the green line. Data for the week beginning 22 February demonstrates that there were 83.2% fewer journeys taken on the green line and 78.1% fewer journeys taken on the red line than in the corresponding week in 2020. However, the total number of journeys on the Luas increased by 14,500 (+9.1%) in week commencing 22 February compared to the previous week.

It is worth noting that the number of journeys taken on public transport is not recovering at the same rate as road traffic volumes. Rail continues to be the most severely affected mode of public transport.

Bicycle Counter Data

Source: Dublin City Council

Dublin City Council operate cycle counters at five locations across the city to aid traffic planning and gauge demand for cycling. The cycle counter automatically counts cyclists passing in both directions and relays information to Dublin City Council’s traffic control centre. Data from these counters is presented in table 8.

The data for peak hours shows a different pattern to that of the off-peak data. The volume of cyclists on weekdays between 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm decreased significantly when restrictions were most stringent. In April 2020 there was a drop of 75.6% in the volume of cyclists measured during peak hours. Volumes had been recovering slowly but data for February shows that cycle volumes had fallen back below May 2019 levels and are now 69.2% lower than February 2020.

The volume of cyclists during off-peak hours has remained close to or exceeded 2019 levels except for the month of April, when there was a 40.1% drop compared to April 2019. However, volumes for February 2021 are 12.4% lower than February 2020.

Aviation data

Source: Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry airports.

Air passenger data shows a dramatic fall in passengers handled by Irish airports due to COVID-19 restrictions. Data on airport passengers is presented in table 9 and illustrated in figure 10. The number of passengers travelling through Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Knock airports in January 2021 is 91.3% lower than January 2020. Note: Kerry data was not available at the time of publication.

The total number of passengers handled by those airports in January 2021 fell from 2,366,805 to 205,803, a drop of 91.3% when compared with the same period in 2020. The number of passengers travelling through Dublin airport in January 2021 was down by 82,196 a decrease of 29.2% on the previous month.

For further COVID-19 related information go to the CSO COVID-19 Information Hub