Accredited official statistics

NTS 2024: Introduction and main findings

Published 27 August 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-travel-survey-2024/nts-2024-introduction-and-main-findings

About this release

The National Travel Survey (NTS) is a household survey of personal travel by residents of England travelling within Great Britain. Data is collected via interviews and a seven-day travel diary, which enables analysis of patterns and trends in travel behaviours. This release covers the main findings from the survey conducted during 2024.

The final response rate for NTS 2024 was 32%. This is the same as NTS 2023. The number of individuals fully participating in the survey in 2024 was 16,980, this is 20% higher than in 2023 (14,102 individuals). Please see our latest technical report for more details.

These are Accredited Official Statistics and were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in September 2018. For more information, see the background information section.

Main findings

Average trips made by people living in England remained similar in 2024 compared to 2023, however, trip rates were slightly lower than in 2019, with 922 trips made on average in 2024.

  • In 2024, people made 922 trips person, travelled 6,082 miles per person and spent on average 362 hours per person travelling.
  • This includes 24 minutes per cycling trip, 22 minutes per car driver trip and 18 minutes per walking trip, on average in 2024.

Trip rates by mode

Trip rates using active transport modes (such as walking and cycling) and cars[footnote 1] (as drivers and passengers) remained similar to the previous year, in 2024. Trip rates for buses outside London and surface rail increased compared to the previous year, however, buses in London and London Underground trip rates decreased. Trip rates for these modes were lower than 2019 (pre-pandemic) apart from surface rail which was similar, and walking which remains 7% higher than 2019 (pre-pandemic).

Walking trips

Where more than one transport mode is used within trips, 60% of these trips began with walking in 2024, and 64% of public transport trips using more than one mode started with walking. Nearly all walks recorded in the NTS were under 5 miles in 2024 (99.8%). Most trips to and from school for trip length of under 1 mile were made by walking (83% for children aged 5 to 10 and 92% for children aged 11 to 16) in 2024. Average walking distance travelled was the highest on record since 2002 with 230 miles per person. In 2024, females of all ages made more walking trips on average and walked a greater distance than males, with the age group 30 to 39 making the most walking trips with 355 trips per person.

Public transport trips

Around 42% of public transport trips used a single mode of transport, and the remaining 58% used more than one transport mode. Around 25% of multi-modal public transport trips in England involved more than one public transport mode. This rises to 32% in London.

Travel by household income quintile

On average, people living in higher income households tend to travel more than people living in lower income households. In 2024, households within the second highest income quintile made the most trips on average with 990 trips per person, this was followed by households within the highest income quintile (987 trips per person). Households within the lowest income quintile made the least private transport trips such as by car or motorcycle (414 trips per person), had the lowest level of car availability (60%), compared to 86% in the highest income quintile.

Car use

In England in 2024, 59% of cars that people owned were petrol, 30% were diesel, 6% hybrid, 4% battery electric and 2% plug-in hybrid. Around 83% of people reported to have used a private car at least once a week, and 6% less than once a year or never in 2024. Car (driver and passenger) trips made up 59% of trips and 76% of distance travelled, on average in 2024. Overall, females made more car trips than males, however, males made longer car trips on average.

Trips and distance travelled by sex

In 2024, males made 4% fewer trips overall (904 trips per person) than females (939 trips per person) but travelled 16% further (6,549 miles per person by males, as opposed to 5,633 miles per person by females).

Trip purpose

The most common trip purpose in 2024 was for shopping with 167 trips per person. Females aged 40 and over and males aged 50 and over made most of their trips for shopping in 2024. Commuting was the second most common trip purpose in 2024 with 111 trips per person. Commuting accounted for the longest distance travelled on average with 1,007 miles per person.

COVID-19 and travel in 2024

The National Travel Survey has found that, broadly, personal travel remained similar in 2024 compared to 2023 and therefore had not returned to pre-pandemic trends. There were increases on public transport modes such as buses outside London and surface rail. This is consistent with Department for Transport’s COVID-19 transport use statistics which show that travel by various transport modes, whilst varying month-to-month, remained below the pre-pandemic reference point. Monthly domestic public transport use has grown during 2024, although it has remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Chart 1: Trends in trips taken, miles travelled, and hours spent travelling: Great Britain (1972 to 1988) and England (1989 to 2024) (NTS0101)

Historic travel trends

From the early 1970s to the early 2000s, the average distance people travelled per year increased, but the number of trips and time spent travelling stayed broadly the same. From then, miles travelled on average gradually declined, however the average number of trips per person and hours spent travelling remained broadly stable until 2019. In 2020 there was a sharp decline in average miles, trips and hours travelled compared to 2019, during a year when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in restrictions on travel. Since then average miles, trips and time spent travelling have increased but remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Chart 2: Trends in trips taken, miles travelled and hours spent travelling: England, 2002 to 2024 (NTS0101)

Trips

  • People made 922 trips on average in 2024 (or 18 trips per week). This was similar to 2023 (915 trips on average), but slightly lower than 2019 (953 trips on average).

Distance

  • People travelled 6,082 miles on average in 2024. This was a slight increase compared to 2023 (5,974 miles on average), but a decrease of 6% compared to 2019 (6,500 miles on average).

Time

  • People spent 362 hours on average travelling in 2024. This is a slight increase compared to 2023 (353 hours on average) but a slight decrease compared to 2019 (370 hours on average).
  • This includes 24 minutes per cycling trip, 22 minutes per car driver trip and 18 minutes per walking trip, on average in 2024.

Background information

The 2024 National Travel Survey (NTS) is the latest in a series of household surveys of personal travel by residents of England travelling within Great Britain, from data collected via interviews and a seven-day travel diary. The NTS is part of a continuous survey that began in 1988, following ad-hoc surveys from the 1960s, which enables analysis of patterns and trends.

Some key uses of the data include describing patterns, for example how different groups of people travel, monitoring trends in travel, including sustainable modes; assessing the potential equality impacts of different groups; and contributing to the evaluation of policies.

We always welcome feedback to help ensure that the survey meets the needs of users, and any feedback provided will help inform the future design and development of the survey. If you have any feedback, please email National Travel Survey statistics.

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in September 2018. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and are labelled ‘Accredited Official Statistics’.

Further information is available, including:

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  1. All references to ‘car’ include a small number of vans. ↩

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