Accredited official statistics

NTS 2024: Trends in public transport trips

Published 27 August 2025

Main findings

• Average trips on buses outside London increased from 25 to 28 trips per person in 2024, however, trips on buses in London decreased from 14 to 13 trips per person in 2024.
• Trips on surface rail increased from 18 to 21 trips per person in 2024.
• Females of all ages made more bus trips but travelled a similar distance by bus compared to males.
• Females of all ages made a similar number of London Underground trips to males but males travelled slightly longer distances on average.
• Males of all ages made a higher number of surface rail trips than females and travelled longer distances.
• Around 42% of public transport trips used a single mode of transport, and the remaining 58% used more than one transport mode.
• Almost two-thirds of public transport trips using more than one mode started with walking (64%).
• Around 25% of multi-modal public transport trips in England involved more than one public transport mode, this rises to 32% in London.

Trends in public transport use

Chart 10: Trips per person per year by selected public transport modes: England, 2002 to 2024 (NTS0303)

Public transport trips made up 9% of trips and 17% of distance travelled, on average in 2024.

Buses within and outside London

• Trends in other local bus (outside London) saw a gradual fall from 46 trips per person in 2002 to 32 trips per person in 2019, followed by a sharp decrease to 15 trips per person in 2020 and most recently an increase of 12% from 25 trips per person in 2023 to 28 trips per person in 2024.
• The increase in trip rates on buses outside London in 2024 may have at least partially been impacted by the national £2 bus fare cap which came into effect on buses outside London from January 2023 under the previous government, up to the end of 2024. The National Travel Attitudes Study Wave 10 statistical release contains more information about the attitudes towards the bus fare cap. This statistical release highlights that the majority of people reported savings in terms of money, and had used the bus in preference to other transport modes, due to the scheme.
• There were 13 trips per person on buses in London in 2024. This was a decrease of 7% compared to 2023 (14 trips per person).
• Trends in London buses saw a gradual increase from 2002 to 2010 and have since shown a slight decreasing trend, with a sharp decrease in 2020. This suggests that the medium term trend may be more stable and is broadly similar to the trend observed in other statistics such as bus statistics.
• Trip rates for buses (in and outside London) remained below pre-pandemic (2019) levels. This is consistent with trends in passenger numbers from bus statistics, which remained lower than before the pandemic (year ending March 2020).

London Underground

• Trends on the London Underground were relatively stable from 2002 to 2019 and have since recovered slightly from the 2020 low. There were 10 trips per person in 2024, a decrease of 6% compared to the previous year (10 trips per person in 2023).

Surface rail

• Surface rail trips per person increased from 13 trips per person in 2002 to 21 trips per person in 2019, but fell to 11 trips person in 2020, and increased to 21 trips per person in 2024. This is a 13% increase compared to 2023 (18 trips per person).
• Trends on the increase in surface rail trips are comparable to rail statistics which show an increase in rail passenger journeys in the financial year ending 2024, compared to the previous year. This has been attributed to increased services and capacity. The central section of the Elizabeth Line opened in May 2022, bringing an increase in journeys classed as surface rail that might previously have been made on London Underground or Docklands Light Railway.

Chart 11: Miles travelled per person per year by selected public transport modes: England, 2002 to 2024 (NTS0303)

Distance travelled for these selected modes of public transport broadly follow the overall trends in numbers of average trips.

Buses within and outside London

• Other local bus distance travelled increased by 9% to 139 miles per person in 2024 compared to 2023.
• Distance travelled by bus in London decreased by 9% in 2024 compared to 2023 with 49 miles per person.
• Overall, average miles travelled on other local buses and buses in London declined by 34% and 24% respectively from 2002 to 2024.

London Underground

• Distance travelled on the London Underground was similar in 2024 and 2023 with 85 miles per person.

Surface rail

• People travelled the longest distance on surface rail on average compared to other public transport modes, with 640 miles per person in 2024, a 27% increase compared to 2023.

Trends in public transport use by age and sex

Chart 12: Average bus trips and miles travelled, by age and sex: England, 2024 (NTS0601)

Bus trips and distance travelled by age and sex

• In 2024, females of all ages made more bus trips but travelled a similar distance by bus compared to males.
• On average, females made 45 bus trips and travelled 187 miles compared to males who made 37 bus trips and travelled 189 miles.
• Females made more bus trips than males for all age groups apart from those aged 20 and under. Females travelled a longer distance than males for age groups 30 to 39 and 50 and over.
• Males and females aged 17 to 20 made the most bus trips with 94 and 81 trips per person respectively and travelled a longer distance on average by bus than other age groups with 474 miles per person and 362 miles per person respectively.^{[footnote 1]}

Chart 13: Average London Underground trips and miles travelled, by age and sex: England, 2024 (NTS0601)

London Underground trips and distance travelled by age and sex

• In 2024, females of all ages made a similar number of London Underground trips to males. Females made 9 trips per person, and males made 10 trips per person by London Underground.
• Males travelled slightly longer distances by London Underground with 95 miles per person compared to females who travelled 76 miles per person.
• Males and females aged 21 to 29 made the most London Underground trips and travelled the longest distance on average amongst their sex.

Chart 14: Average surface rail trips and miles travelled, by age and sex: England, 2024 (NTS0601)

Surface rail trips and distance travelled by age and sex

• In 2024, overall, males of all ages made a higher number of surface rail trips than females. Females made 18 trips per person, and males made 23 trips per person by surface rail.
• Males travelled longer on average by surface rail with 725 miles per person compared to females who travelled 557 miles per person.
• Males and females aged 21 to 29 made the most surface rail trips and travelled the longest distance on average amongst their sex.

Multi-modal public transport trips

Chart 15: Flow of travel by mode for public transport trips recorded on day 1 of the travel diary: England, 2024 (ad hoc analyses) NTSQ09074

Flow of public transport trips between modes of transport

This analysis is based on data from the first day of the travel diary as this is the only day on which walks of under a mile are recorded. Walks of under 50 yards are not recorded. This analysis looks into the combination of modes used within public transport trips to understand how people travel between modes, and how often single modes of transport are used within public transport trips. Less than 0.1% of public transport trips have 6 or more stages and these have been trimmed from charts 15 and 16 for simplicity. Each column represents a stage, and the thickness of lines is proportional to the number of public transport trips.

Public transport trips are defined as being those where any of the public transport modes form the main mode of the trip, or the mode which is used for the longest stage of the trip by distance. With stages of equal length, the mode of the latest stage is used. Public transport modes include bus in London, other local bus, non-local bus, London Underground, surface rail, taxi or minicab and other public transport.

• In 2024, 9% of trips involved public transport as the main mode.
• In 2024, 42% of public transport trips used a single mode of transport, and the remaining 58% used more than one transport mode. These proportions were both 50% in 2023.
• Walk was the most frequent mode to begin a public transport trip with 37%, followed by other local bus (25%), bus in London (11%) and taxi or minicab (11%).

Chart 16: Flow of travel by mode for multi-modal public transport trips recorded on day 1 of the travel diary: England, 2024 (ad hoc analyses) NTSQ09074

Multi-modal public transport trips

• Almost two-thirds of public transport trips using more than one mode started with walking (64%), followed by other local bus (11%), bus in London (6%), surface rail (5%) and London Underground (5%).
• Surface rail was most often the second mode used within multi-modal public transport trips with 31%, followed by other local bus (20%), walk (18%), London Underground (14%) and bus in London (13%). The majority of these public transport trips preceded and were followed by a walking stage or other public transport modes.

Chart 17: Percentage of multi-modal public transport trips recorded on day 1 of the travel diary which involve more than one public transport mode, by selected region of residence: England, 2024 (ad hoc analyses) NTSQ09074

Multi-modal public transport trips involving more than one public transport mode

• In 2024, 25% of multi-modal public transport trips in England involved more than one public transport mode (27% in 2023). This rises to 32% in London (30% in 2023), suggesting a slightly higher proportion of more complex public transport trips in this region.

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:

• data tables
• notes and definitions
• guidance and quality information
• future developments

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1. The estimates for this age group should be interpreted with caution as sample sizes are slightly small and therefore have a high margin of error. ↩