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Alternatives to Car Usage

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For persons who made a journey by car as a driver, they were asked what alternative modes of travel were available to them for this journey. Note that respondents could select more than one option.

At an overall level, for one in six (16.4%) journeys by car where the respondent was driving the car, walking could have been used as an alternative mode of transport, while the bus was selected as an alternative mode of transport in one in eleven (9%) journeys by car as a driver. For over one in twenty (5.4%) journeys, cycling was an option while car-pooling was an alternative for just 2.2% of journeys by car as a driver. See Table 7.1.

Table 7.1 Percentage journeys by car (as a driver) by purpose and alternative modes of travel, 2021

Getting a lift/car poolingWalkBusCycleElectric personal mobility vehicleRail/DART/LuasTaxi/hackneyOtherNo alternative mode of travel
Alternative modes of travel2.1916.359.035.350.1423.646.269.51
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Over four in ten (40.2%) of those driving for the purposes of going to school/college, said that they could take the bus instead while one in nine (11%) said that they could walk. Car-pooling as an alternative travel mode was low for all types of journey. Journeys to school/college etc. as car driver had the highest preference for car-pooling as an alternative mode of travel (8.7%) while car-pooling was an option for nearly one in twenty (4.9%) trips for the purpose of personal business (going to bank, post office, doctor, etc.) where the respondent chose to drive. Walking was possible as an alternative mode of travel for nearly one in nine (10.7%) of these journeys, while for one in sixteen (6.3%) using the bus was an option, and cycling was a possible alternative for 5.7% of these journeys. See Table 7.1.

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For over three quarters (76.4%) of journeys to work by car as a driver, the respondent said that there was no alternative mode of travel to using the car for going to work, while one in nine (11.4%) said that they could walk to work. One in eleven (9.2%) stated that they could cycle to work, with over one in twelve (8.6%) stating that they could get the bus to work. Just 2.8% of persons said that they could car-pool or get a lift. See Table 7.1.

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Two thirds (66.4%) of journeys driven by car for the purpose of shopping had no alternative mode of transport. The two main alternative transport modes were walking instead (21.8%) or taking the bus (10.2%). See Table 7.1.