Domestic Transport Usage by Mode
Updated 11 March 2026
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-use-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic/domestic-transport-usage-by-mode
These statistics are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. More information about these statistics can be found in the methodology note.
Usage of transport by mode from March 2025
Usage is shown as a percentage of pre-COVID-19 baseline; baselines used vary between modes (see the methodology note for further information). For rail, usage is shown as a 7-day rolling average ending on the indicated date. For all other modes, daily usage for weekdays (excluding bank holidays) is shown.
National Rail data from August 2024 remains provisional until updated adjustment factors for the Elizabeth line are available.
Figure 1: Transport usage as a proportion of pre-COVID-19 levels, Great Britain, March 2025 to March 2026
Description of figure 1: This figure presents a series of 5 line charts which show transport usage as a proportion of pre-COVID-19 levels, for motor vehicles, buses (excluding London), National Rail (excluding the Elizabeth line) and Transport for London (TfL) tube and buses over the last 12 months. The demand for these transport modes have generally stabilised to new levels, reflecting post-COVID-19 usage. Over the past year, public transport mode usage (National Rail, buses and TfL tube and buses) has generally remained below pre-COVID-19 levels, whereas motor vehicles usage has settled close to pre-COVID-19 levels.
For all modes, usage fluctuates day-to-day, and bus usage outside of London is heavily impacted by school holidays throughout the year. Sharp changes in modal usage are as a result of weather events, industrial action or other events. More detail about this can be found in the footnotes of the published data table.
Table 1 below compares the range of usage during the current and previous publishing periods[footnote 1] for each mode as a percentage of the pre-COVID-19 baseline. For all modes, except rail, transport usage excludes weekends and bank holidays, with rail presenting a 7-day rolling average of usage for all days.
The exclusion of weekends and bank holidays for all modes, except rail, is to prevent direct comparisons between these days and weekdays. This is because usage over weekends and bank holidays is less representative of typical weekday usage patterns (see the methodology note for further information). Weekend usage across all modes provided in this series is available in the tables that accompany this release.
The publishing periods vary between some modes due to data lags, which are specified in Table 1.
Table 1: Latest transport usage, by mode
| Mode | Publishing period | Latest usage at date | Commentary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rail (GB excluding Elizabeth Line) | 2 Feb to 1 Mar 2026 | 93% (Sunday 1 March 2026) | Passenger journeys in the week ending Sunday 1 March 2026 were 93% of those observed in the equivalent week in 2019. In the current publishing period weekly average usage figures have been between 85% to 99%, compared to 82% to 93% in the last publishing period. These figures exclude Elizabeth Line services usage. |
| Bus (GB excluding London) | 10 Feb to 9 Mar 2026 | 86% (Monday 9 March 2026) | Bus boardings outside of London on Monday 9 March 2026 were 86% of the volume observed on the equivalent day in the third week of January 2020. This is 3 percentage points lower compared to the equivalent day in the previous year (89% on Monday 10 March 2025). In the current publishing period weekday bus usage has been between 68% to 91% of the pre-COVID-19 baseline, in comparison to between 78% to 86% in the last publishing period. |
| London Bus | 7 Feb to 6 Mar 2026 | 79% (Friday 6 March 2026) | TfL bus boardings on Friday 6 March 2026 were 79% of the equivalent day in 2019. In the current publishing period weekday TfL bus usage has been between 72% to 85% of the pre-COVID-19 baseline, in comparison to between 69% to 84% in the last publishing period. |
| London Tube | 7 Feb to 6 Mar 2026 | 74% (Friday 6 March 2026) | Tube entries and exits on Friday 6 March 2026 were 74% of the equivalent day in 2019. In the current publishing period weekday tube usage has been between 74% to 88% of the pre-COVID-19 baseline, in comparison to between 74% to 87% in the last publishing period. |
| Motor Traffic (GB) | 10 Feb to 9 Mar 2026 | 101% (Monday 9 March 2026) | On Monday 9 March 2026 traffic volumes were 101% of the levels during the first week of February 2020. This is 1 percentage point lower compared to the equivalent day in the previous year (102% on Monday 10 March 2025). Weekday usage in this publishing period has been between 94% to 102% of the pre-COVID-19 baseline, in comparison to 95% to 99% in the last publishing period. |
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National Rail and TfL data are lagged compared to other modes due to the availability of data at time of publishing. For National Rail, the current period covers Monday 2 February 2026 to Sunday 1 March 2026, while the previous publishing period covers Monday 5 January 2026 to Sunday 1 February 2026. For TfL data, the current period covers Saturday 7 February 2026 to Friday 6 March 2026, while the previous publishing period covers Saturday 10 January 2026 to Friday 6 February 2026. ↩