Age was grouped into five-year bands up to 85 years and over, and based on age recorded at Census 2022.
Nationally, individuals aged 25 to 29 years had the lowest median distance (4.0 km) to ‘High Frequency Rail Stops’, compared with 4.8 km for those aged 20 to 24 years and 7.4 km for those aged 70 to 74 years. ‘High Frequency Rail Stops’ were defined as rail services served more than 10 times between 6 am and 8 pm on a midweek day. This was similar to findings from a previous release, Measuring Distance to Services in Ireland 2026 – Health Services, wherein individuals aged 25 to 29 years had the lowest median distance to Health Services than any other age group.
At State level, distances to ‘Bus Stops’ were quite consistent across age groups. Among older age groups, the median distance to ‘Bus Stops’ for the quarter of households living furthest away (upper quartile) was slightly greater, reaching 2.0 km for those aged 60 to 74 years compared with 1.5 km for those aged 0 to 4 years. Differences by age group for ‘High Frequency Bus Stops’ were more pronounced than for all ‘Bus Stops’. Median distances to ‘High Frequency Bus Stops’ were shortest among those aged 25 to 29 years at 0.5 km (for both sexes), compared with 0.4 km for all ‘Bus Stops’ among the same age group. Among those aged 10 to 14 years, the median distance to a ‘High Frequency Bus Stop’ was 0.9 km, compared with 0.7 km for all ‘Bus Stops’.
Median distance to Transport Services did not vary meaningfully between men and women at State level, with differences of less than 0.2 km across services.
Distances to Transport Services varied only modestly by age group and sex. Differences were slightly more pronounced in the upper quartile of the distribution. Among males aged 70 to 74 years, one in four lived more than 6.0 km from ‘High Frequency Bus Stops’, compared with more than 5.2 km for one in four females of the same age group. A similar pattern was observed among those aged 85 years and over, where the upper quartile distance was 5.9 km for males and 5.3 km for females.
This section uses the six-category urban and rural classification set out in Urban and Rural Life in Ireland, 2025 - Central Statistics Office.
Within each settlement type, differences in median distances were generally small. In ‘Highly rural / remote areas’, for example, median distances to ‘Bus Stops’ ranged from 1.6 km to 2.2 km across all age groups, with male and female households recording the same median of 2.1 km at State level for all ages. Across all age groups, individuals located in ‘Cities’ typically lived around 0.3 km from ‘Fuel Stations’, compared with 2.5-2.7 km in ‘Rural areas with moderate urban influence’.
Distances to Transport Services varied little by sex within age groups, and the differences observed were substantially smaller than those found between age groups. In most Administrative County-age combinations, the difference in median distance between males and females was less than 1.0 km across age groups.
The largest difference was observed in Monaghan, where males aged 85 years and over lived a median distance of 2.0 km from 'Bus Stops', compared with 1.3 km for females. Similar differences were observed among those aged 85 years and over in Tipperary (1.6 km for males, 1.0 km for females) and Kilkenny (1.4 km for males, 0.8 km for females), where males lived approximately 0.6 km farther from 'All Public Transport Stops' than females.
Differences by sex were apparent for ‘Fuel Stations’ across Counties, although the magnitude of the differences was generally small. The largest difference was observed in Tipperary among those aged 85 years and over, where males lived a median distance of 2.4 km from their nearest fuel station compared with 1.3 km for females. In Leitrim, males aged 30 to 34 years had a median distance to ‘Fuel Stations’ of 6.2 km, compared with 5.3 km for females. Among those aged 85 years and over, males in Cavan had a median distance of 3.3 km, compared with 2.6 km for females. Similar patterns were observed in Sligo, where males aged 85 years and over had a median distance of 3.0 km compared with 2.2 km for females, and in Kilkenny, where the corresponding median distances were 2.4 km and 1.6 km, respectively.
The largest sex-related differences were observed for ‘Rail Stops’ and ‘High Frequency Rail Stops’, particularly in Administrative Counties where rail accessibility was already relatively low. In Limerick, males aged 80 to 84 years (10.6 km) had a higher median distance of almost 4.0 km to 'Rail Stops' than females of the same age (6.8 km). This was similar to Waterford, where males aged 80 to 84 years had a distance of 13.6 km compared with 10.5 km for females of the same age.
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