When the survey was last carried out in 2021, society was gradually returning to normal as restrictions were lifted, and people were returning to their place of work, on a full or partial basis. The 2024 survey results show that without COVID-19 restrictions, trips by male respondents, where the main purpose of the journey was work related, climbed to one-third (33.1%) of all male journeys, exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels (28.8% of all male journeys in 2019).
On the other hand, female work-related journeys account for just one-fifth (20.0%) of all female trips, similar to pre-COVID-19 levels (See Figure 3.1 and Table 3.1).
Females were nearly twice as likely as males to make a journey for accompanying another person – 29.2% of females (up from 26.1% in 2021) compared with 16.0% of males. Companion and escort journeys are journeys where the purpose of the respondent’s journey is to collect or escort somebody else. Examples include collecting or escorting somebody to their place of education or collecting or escorting somebody to a childcare facility (See Figure 3.1 and Table 3.1).
In 2024, journeys where the main purpose was of a personal business nature doubled to 6.7% (3.3% in 2021), with only a marginal difference between males and females, at 6.9% and 6.4% respectively (See Figure 3.1 and Table 3.1).
In 2024, more information was collected on the nature of these personal business-related trips. Trips to the bank accounted for 3.4% of all journeys made, while just 1.6% of trips were for health / medical purposes (See PxStat Table NTA73).
The fall in visits to friends and family seen in 2021, when restrictions on house gatherings remained somewhat in place, has been reversed in 2024, with 8.1% of all female journeys and 6.5% of all male journeys, for this purpose, compared with 7.1% and 5.7% respectively in 2021. Almost one in eleven (8.8%) journeys made by females were for entertainment, leisure, or sports purposes, compared with almost one in twelve (7.9%) journeys taken by males (See Figure 3.1 and Table 3.1).
More than one-quarter (25.6%) of trips of less than 2 kilometres were for the main purpose of work, while a further 26.5% were for shopping. Almost one in five (19.4%) journeys of less than two kilometres were companion or escort journeys.
In 2024, three in ten (30.0%) journeys of 8 kilometres or more were for the main purpose of work, compared with over one-third (33.7%) of journeys of similar distance in 2021 (See Figure 3.2 and Table 3.2).
In 2024, 75.5% of work-related trips were half an hour or less, compared with 74.6% in 2021. However, within the half hour time span, there was a shift in 2024 towards longer commuting times of greater than 15 mins. Over three in ten (31.0%) work-related trips were between a quarter and half an hour in duration, up from 27.0% in 2021. Meanwhile, 44.5% of trips for the main purpose of work, were less than quarter of an hour, up from 47.6% in 2021 (See Figure 3.3 and Table 3.3).
Almost one-quarter (23.5%) of trips for education purposes took longer than an hour, up from 15.3% in 2021. Note that respondents to the survey were 18 years and over so trips for the purpose of education would largely relate to travel to and from centres of third level education. Where the respondent was dropping or picking up from an education centre, these are companion and escort journeys.
Shopping trips were also taking longer in 2024 – six in ten (59.8%) were less than a quarter of an hour in 2024, dropping from almost three-quarters (74.3%) of shopping journeys in 2021.
Almost seven in ten (69.2%) work-related trips for people residing in thinly populated areas were by car, compared with two-thirds (67.2%) of journeys for the purpose of work for those residing in intermediate populated areas and just short of six in ten (58.8%) in densely populated areas. Just 1.6% of work-related journeys in thinly populated areas were by public transport, compared to 14.2% in densely populated areas and 12.0% in intermediate populated areas (See Figure 3.3 and Tables 3.3 & 3.4).
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