Domestic Transport Usage by Mode
Updated 11 September 2024
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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 September 2023
Usage is shown as a percentage of pre-COVID-19 (coronavirus) baseline; baselines used vary between modes (see methodology 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.
The latest TfL data (tube and London buses) is not available in this report, due to an ongoing cyber incident which occurred at TfL earlier this month. The more recent data will be published once available.
Figure 1: Transport usage progressively recovers to pre-COVID-19 level, across all modes
Transport usage as a proportion of pre-COVID-19 levels, Great Britain, September 2023 to September 2024
Description of figure 1: This figure presents a series of 4 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 (tube and buses) over the last 12 months. Over the past year, public transport mode usage (National Rail, buses and TfL) has remained below pre-COVID-19 levels, whereas motor vehicles usage has remained closer 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 publishing period (from Tuesday 13 August 2024 to Monday 9 September 2024[footnote 1]) to the previous publishing period (Tuesday 9 July 2024 to Monday 12 August 2024) 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.
Table 1: Latest transport usage, by mode
| Mode | Latest usage at date | Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| Rail (GB excluding Elizabeth Line) | 93% (Sunday 1 September 2024) | Passenger journeys in the week ending Sunday 1 September 2024 were 93% of those observed in the equivalent week in 2019. In the current publishing period, weekly average usage figures have been between 84% to 93%, compared to 84% to 97% in the last publishing period. These figures exclude Elizabeth Line services usage |
| Bus (GB excluding London) | 90% (Monday 9 September 2024) | Bus boardings outside of London on Monday 9 September 2024 were 90% of the volume observed on the equivalent day in the third week of January 2020. This is 2 percentage points lower compared to the equivalent day in the previous year (92% on Monday 11 September 2023). In the current publishing period weekday bus usage has been between 73% to 90% of the pre-COVID-19 baseline, in comparison to between 68% to 82% in the last publishing period |
| London Bus | 88% (Friday 9 August 2024) | TfL bus boardings on Friday 9 August 2024 were 88% of the equivalent day in 2019. The latest TfL bus data is not available in this report, due to an ongoing cyber incident which occurred at TfL earlier this month. The more recent data will be published once available. |
| London Tube | 75% (Friday 9 August 2024) | Tube entries and exits on Friday 9 August 2024 were 75% of the equivalent day in 2019. The latest TfL tube data is not available in this report, due to an ongoing cyber incident which occurred at TfL earlier this month. The more recent data will be published once available. |
| Motor Traffic (GB) | 104% (Monday 9 September 2024) | On Monday 9 September 2024 traffic volumes were 104% of the levels during the first week of February 2020. This is 2 percentage points higher compared to the equivalent day in the previous year (102% on Monday 11 September 2023). Weekday usage in this publishing period has been between 98% to 104% of the pre-COVID-19 baseline, in comparison to 96% to 105% in the last publishing period |
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Rail and TfL data are lagged compared to other modes. For rail, the current period therefore covers Monday 5 August 2024 to Sunday 1 September 2024, while the previous publishing period covers Monday 1 July 2024 to Sunday 4 August 2024. For TfL, the current period covers Saturday 10 August 2024 to Friday 9 August 2024, while the previous publishing period covers Saturday 6 July 2024 to Friday 9 August 2024 ↩