In 2024, 78.6% of people aged 18 and over, took a trip on the day for which they provided information on their travel pattern.
Private car remained the most popular mode of travel (73.9%) in 2024, returning to pre-COVID-19 levels.
Travel by public transport remained lower than pre-COVID-19 journeys. Travel by bus accounted for 4.1% of journeys in 2024, a marginal decrease on the 2021 usage of 4.3% and 4.8% in 2019.
Growth in active travel seen during and post-COVID-19 tapered off in 2024, particularly with regards to walking, decreasing from 16.9% of all trips in 2021 to 13.6% in 2024. It was 13.5% in 2019.
Cycling decreased marginally in 2024 with 2.0% of all journeys made by bicycle, compared with 2.2% in 2021 and 1.5% in 2019.
The fall in visits to friends and family seen in 2021, when restrictions on house gatherings remained somewhat in place, was reversed in 2024, with 8.1% of all female journeys and 6.5% of all male journeys made for this purpose.
In 2024, the busiest time for taking journeys was between 4pm and 7pm, with 45.0% of journeys during this time taken for work-related purposes.
This release is the first of three releases on the results of the National Travel Survey. Sustainable Mobility and Transport 2024 and Passenger Mobility and Road Safety 2024 will be published later in 2026.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (16 July 2026) published Travel Behaviour Trends 2024. This is the first of three releases on the results of the National Travel Survey, which was carried out in the last four months of 2024. Today’s release focuses on travel behaviour, where respondents were asked to provide information on journeys taken on a particular day.
Commenting on the release, Maureen Delamere, Statistician in the Social Analysis and Modules Division, said: “This is the first survey on travel behaviour carried out by the CSO since the COVID-19 pandemic. When the last survey was carried out Quarter 4 (Q4) 2021, society and the economy had started to return to normal but there were still varying restrictions in place. The release includes a selection of statistics with additional data available on the CSO’s open data portal, PxStat.
This survey was mostly collected in Q4 2024 and 78.6% of respondents had taken a trip on the day for which they provided information on their travel pattern. Of those who did not take any trip on the travel reference day, some were working from home, while most said they were fully occupied with home duties or had no need or wish to travel outside the home.
Busiest Travel Days and Times
The average number of trips taken by people over 18 years was 3.0. Tuesday was the busiest day of the week for taking a journey, and the weekend was the least busy.
Almost one-quarter (24.1%) of all journeys taken in 2024 were on a Tuesday compared with 26.1% in 2021. The busiest time for taking journeys was between 4pm and 7pm, with 45.0% of journeys taken during this time for work-related purposes.
Car Journeys
Private car remained the most common mode of travel. Journeys by car (whether as driver or passenger) accounted for 73.9% of journeys taken, up from 70.7% in 2021. However, while journeys where the respondent was driving have not yet returned to pre-COVID-19 prevalence, passenger car journeys have increased to 10.5% of journeys compared with 8.8% in 2019. Females were more than twice as likely as males to travel as a car passenger in 2024.
Public Transport
Travel by public transport has remained lower than pre-COVID-19 levels. Travel by bus accounted for 4.1% of journeys in 2024, a marginal decrease on 2021 usage of 4.3% and from 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 1.2% in 2021 and 1.7% in 2019.
Walking and Cycling
The increase in active travel that we saw during, and post-COVID-19 tapered off somewhat when the survey was carried out in 2024, especially for trips where the main travel mode was walking.
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, which was similar to the percentage recorded in 2019 of 13.5%. Of journeys taken by males, 15.1% were by foot, compared with 12.1% of trips taken by females.
The number of people choosing to cycle has also fallen. Cycling decreased slightly in 2024 with 2.0% of all journeys made by bicycle, compared with 2.2% in 2021 and 1.5% in 2019.
Purpose of Travel
The main purpose of travel remained work related (26.3%) in 2024. Survey results show that with COVID-19 restrictions fully lifted, trips by male respondents, where the main purpose of the journey was work related, climbed to 33.1% of all male journeys, exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels of 28.8% in 2019. Work-related journeys for females accounted for 20.0% of all female trips, similar to pre-COVID-19 levels.
Females were nearly twice as likely as males to make a journey accompanying another person with 29.2% of females doing so (up from 26.1% in 2021) compared with 16.0% of males. Companion and escort journeys include journeys where the purpose of the respondent’s journey was to collect or escort somebody to their place of education or collecting or escorting somebody to a childcare facility.
The fall in visits to friends and family seen in 2021, when restrictions on house gatherings remained somewhat in place, was reversed in 2024, with 8.1% of all female journeys and 6.5% of all male journeys, made for this purpose.”