In 2024, at an overall level, journeys by car (whether as driver or passenger) have returned to pre-COVID-19 levels. When the survey was last carried out in Quarter 4 (Q4) of 2021, travel by car (as driver or passenger) had fallen to 70.7% from 73.7% for the same period in 2019. The 2024 results show that this trend has now been reversed, with 73.9% of journeys by car, exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels.
While journeys by car overall are higher than 2021 levels, trips where the respondent was the driver have remained largely similar to 2021, both for males and females – 60.6% of trips by males and 66.0% of trips by females in 2024 compared with 60.8% and 66.6% respectively in 2021. However, trips by car where the respondent was a passenger increased in 2024. One in seven (14.3%) of all trips taken by females were passenger car journeys, over twice the prevalence of male car passenger journeys (6.6%), compared with almost one in ten (9.4%) journeys taken by females and almost one in twenty (4.7%) trips by males in 2021 (See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1).
Travel by public transport has remained lower than pre-COVID-19. Travel by bus accounted for 4.1% of journeys in 2024, a marginal decrease on 2021 usage (4.3%) and 4.8% in 2019. Travel by rail, DART, or Luas accounted for 1.4% of all journeys taken in the last four months of 2024, compared with 1.7% in 2019 and 1.2% in 2021 (See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1).
The 2024 survey results show a decline in active travel compared with the 2021 survey when society was emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, the percentage of trips where the main mode of travel was walking, decreased from 16.9% of all trips in 2021 to 13.6% of trips in 2024, similar to pre-COVID-19 levels (13.5% in 2019). Of journeys taken by males, 15.1% were by foot, compared with just over 12.1% of trips taken by females.
Cycling also decreased slightly on 2021 figures. Just 2.0% of all journeys made were by bicycle in 2024, compared with 2.2% in 2021 and 1.5% in 2019 (See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1).
The degree of urbanisation of the area in which the respondent resided did have a bearing on their choice of mode of travel. In thinly populated areas, more than three-quarters (77.6%) of all journeys were taken by car. However, the survey data shows that although travel by car remains high in these areas, journeys where the respondent is the driver have decreased while car passenger journeys have increased. More people were choosing to take a lift or carpool in 2024 – 11% of trips taken in 2024 compared with just 7.7% in 2021.
In densely populated and intermediate density areas, the choice of public transport by bus was substantially greater than in thinly populated areas. In densely populated areas, 9.2% of journeys taken were by bus and in intermediate density areas, 5.4% of journeys taken were by bus. This compares with just 2.4% of journeys by bus in thinly populated areas, albeit increased on 2021 prevalence (1.5%).
In densely populated and intermediate density areas also, the prevalence of car passenger journeys increased from 6.3% in 2021 to 9.3% in 2024 and in intermediate populated areas, from 7.0% in 2021 to 10.0% in 2024. Conversely, trips by car where the respondent was the driver, decreased in 2024 in densely and intermediate populated areas – 54.5% in densely populated areas (55.5% in 2021) and 60.1% in intermediate populated areas (62.8% in 2021) (See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2).
People living outside of the greater Dublin area used their car more (driver and / or passenger) compared with Dublin residents. At an overall level, 75.9% of people residing outside of Dublin used their car as the main mode of travel for journeys made in 2024, compared with 53.6% of those living in Dublin (See Table 2.3).
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