Key findings

• Traffic counter data shows that traffic volumes for the week commencing 25 October were 55.4% lower in regional locations and 51.3% lower in Dublin than the same week in 2019
• The volume of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) in 2020 have exceeded 2019 volumes since June in Dublin and for 17 of the last 19 weeks at regional locations
• There were 11 more fatalities on Irish roads in the first nine months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019
• The volume of autodiesel fuel excise clearances in the first 9 months of 2020 was 14.9% lower than January - September 2019
• The number of journeys taken by bus and rail, following recent restrictions has dropped further and is now a quarter 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
• Increase of 0.9% in the volume of cyclists in Dublin city during off-peak hours in October 2020 compared to October 2019
• There was a 40% increase in the number of new private cars licensed in September compared with the same month last year
• COVID-19 continues to have a major impact on airport passenger numbers

Road Traffic Volumes

Source: Transport Infrastructure Ireland

This is the first edition of the transport bulletin since the introduction of level 5 COVID-19 restrictions in Ireland on 22 October. The impact of the increased restrictions can be seen in car traffic data for the Capital. The latest car traffic data available, for the week commencing 25 October, indicated that traffic volumes at the Dublin sites measured, were 51.3% lower than the corresponding week in 2019. This is significantly higher than the period when restrictions were at their most stringent but represents a deterioration in the gradual recovery that was in evidence since the end of June.

The data, which is illustrated in figures 1 and 2, shows the impact of COVID-19 on traffic volumes since the beginning of March. 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 25 October was 55.4% lower in regional locations than the corresponding week in 2019. See table 1 and figure 1.

Table 2 and figures 3 and 4 provide an insight into HGV traffic volumes. The impact in HGV traffic due to COVID-19 restrictions has not been as pronounced as for cars. In the first three weeks of March, leading up to the severest restrictions, HGV traffic volumes in Dublin and in regional locations were higher than in 2019, although HGV traffic volume was decreasing in those weeks. Over the course of April and May, Dublin saw a greater decrease in HGV traffic than the selected regional locations. The year-on-year comparisons of HGV volumes for the weeks commencing 12 and 19 April 2020 are both affected by the timing of Easter (21 April 2019 and 12 April 2020).

HGV traffic volumes in 2020 have exceeded 2019 volumes since 21 June in Dublin and for seventeen of the nineteen weeks since 21 June in the case of the regions. Despite the introduction of level 5 restrictions, in the week commencing 25 October, HGV traffic was up 1.9% in regional locations and up 4.0% in Dublin compared with the same period in 2019.

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. 

The volume of excise clearances of autodiesel was 2.7% lower in September 2020 compared with September 2019 (see Figure 5). This was the second highest September figure since the series began in 2000. The cumulative total for autodiesel volumes for January to September 2020 was 14.9% lower than the equivalent period for 2019.

Excise clearances of unleaded petrol were 10.7% lower in September 2020 compared with September 2019 (see Figure 5). The figure for unleaded petrol of 77 million litres was the lowest excise clearance figure for the month of September in the 2000-2020 series reflecting: the impact of Covid-19; a change in the fuel type composition of licensed vehicles, and the move towards hybrid and electric vehicles. See full release Fuel excise clearances September 2020.

 

Table 3 and Figure 5 have been amended since first published

 

 

Vehicles Licensed

Source: Department of Transport

In the first nine months of this year, the number of new cars licensed was 77,620, a drop of 27.9% (30,066) when compared with the same period in 2019. The number of new hybrid and new electric cars licensed between January and September grew by 1,351 (12.8%) and 441 (15.2%) respectively despite an overall drop in new cars licensed for the period. There was an annual increase of 40.0% in the number of new cars licensed in the month of September. See Vehicles licensed for the first time September 2020.

Road Fatalities

Source: Road Safety Authority

There were 125 road fatalities in the first nine months of 2020. This compares with 114 for the same period last year.

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 56and figure 7.

The use of bus and rail services has fallen significantly since the introduction of Level 5 restrictions in Ireland on 22 October. The total number of bus and rail journeys taken during the week commencing 25 October was a quarter (25.3%) of that taken in early March. The number of Bus journeys outside of Dublin now stands at 27.1% of pre COVID-19 levels. The corresponding level for bus journeys within Dublin is 28.1%.

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, 25 October - 31 October the number of journeys by rail was 86.8% lower than pre COVID-19 levels. 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 26 October demonstrates that there were 81.5% and 78.3% fewer journeys taken on the green and red lines respectively than in the corresponding week in 2019.

There has been a drop in the use of all public transport in the last two weeks of October compared to the first two weeks of the month. This coincides with the introduction of level 5 COVID-19 restrictions for Ireland. 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. Volumes are recovering slowly but data for October shows that volumes remain 53.9% lower than the same month last year.

The volume of cyclists during off-peak hours has remained close to or exceeded 2019 levels with the exception of the month of April, when there was a 40.1% drop compared to April 2019. Volumes for October were 0.9% higher than in the same month in 2019.

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. In the first nine months of 2020, the number of passengers has fallen by 22 million passengers (from 29.5 million to 7.5 million) when compared with the same period in 2019. This represents a drop 74.5%. 

The total number of passengers handled in September fell from 3,538,610 in 2019 to 430,627 in 2020, a drop of 87.8%.

Text has changed since first published

 

 

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