Domestic Transport Usage by Mode
Updated 15 May 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 May 2023
Usage is shown as a percentage of pre-COVID-19 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.
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, May 2023 to May 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 (TfL) (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 9 April 2024 to Monday 13 May 2024[footnote 1]) to the previous publishing period (Tuesday 12 March 2024 to Monday 8 April 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) | 90% (Sunday 5 May 2024) | Passenger journeys in the week ending Sunday 5 May 2024 were 90% of those observed in the equivalent week in 2019. In the current publishing period, weekly average usage figures have been between 75% to 93%, compared to 80% to 90% in the last publishing period. These figures exclude Elizabeth Line services usage. |
| Bus (GB excluding London) | 87% (Monday 13 May 2024) | Bus boardings outside of London on Monday 13 May 2024 were 87% 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 (90% on Monday 15 May 2023). In the current publishing period weekday bus usage has been between 73% to 94% of the pre-COVID-19 baseline, in comparison to between 68% to 96% in the last publishing period. |
| London Bus | 88% (Friday 10 May 2024) | TfL bus boardings on Friday 10 May 2024 were 88% of the equivalent day in 2019. In the current publishing period usage has ranged between 85% to 103%, while usage in the last publishing period was between 75% to 100% of the pre-COVID-19 baseline. |
| London Tube | 79% (Friday 10 May 2024) | Tube entries and exits on Friday 10 May 2024 were 79% of the equivalent day in 2019. In the current publishing period usage has ranged between 71% to 91% while usage in the last publishing period was between 65% to 85% of the pre-COVID-19 baseline. |
| Motor Traffic (GB) | 103% (Monday 13 May 2024) | On Monday 13 May 2024 traffic volumes were 103% of the levels during the first week of February 2020. This is 1 percentage point higher compared to the equivalent day in the previous year (102% on Monday 15 May 2023). Weekday usage in this publishing period has been between 97% to 104% of the pre-COVID-19 baseline, in comparison to 94% to 103% 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 1 April 2024 to Sunday 5 May 2024, while the previous publishing period covers Monday 4 March 2024 to Sunday 31 March 2024. For TfL, the current period covers Saturday 6 April 2024 to Friday 10 May 2024, while the previous publishing period covers Saturday 9 March 2024 to Thursday 4 April 2024. ↩