Accredited official statistics

Transport Statistics Great Britain: 2022 Summary

Published 15 December 2022

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-statistics-great-britain-2022/transport-statistics-great-britain-2022-summary

About this release

Transport Statistics Great Britain (TSGB) presents an annual summary of statistics for cross-modal transport topics, mostly relating to the calendar year 2021. This condensed set of highlights is complemented by other Department for Transport (DfT) releases presenting more detailed and recent statistics. See the Transport Statistics Finder to explore what other statistics are published by DfT.

Other cross-modal topics of TSGB, can be found in separate articles:

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and transport statistics

Most of the statistics in this release cover the period when national and regional measures were introduced to prevent and reduce the global spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Transport trends have been affected by these measures, which can be seen in the official statistics in this report.

Overview of cross-modal transport statistics

Infographic 1: overview of cross-modal transport statistics by topic

Below is a summary of the main points from the latest transport trends in Great Britain (infographic 1).

For domestic trips in 2021:

  • 645 billion passenger kilometres were travelled in Great Britain (TSGB0101)

    • cars, vans and taxis remain to drive the trend in total passenger kilometres travelled in Great Britain, accounting for 88% in 2021

  • people made 757 trips on average across private and public transport in England, similar to 2020 levels (TSGB0103)

    • 93% of all trips were made using private transport modes, such as cars, vans, walking and pedal cycles

    • around half of all public transport trips were made on buses

  • the average time taken to travel to work in Great Britain was 27 minutes across all modes, similar to 2020 levels (TSGB0108)

    • this ranged from 15 minutes for walking to 63 minutes by rail

For international journeys in 2021:

  • 64.3 million air domestic and international terminal passengers travelled by air

    • 79% of air terminal passenger movements were international

    • most international terminal passenger movements travelled to and from Europe

  • 35.3 million passengers travelled by sea

    • 16% of sea passenger travelled internationally

    • most international short sea passenger movements were between the UK and France

  • 5.8 million rail passengers used the Channel Tunnel

For international freight in 2021:

  • around 360 million tonnes of freight were traded with the UK

  • around 95% of freight traded with the UK was moved by sea

Use the Transport Statistics Finder to explore, download and view the statistical content published by the department.

Topic Related topics
Domestic journeys Aviation
Buses
Journey time statistics
Light rail and tram
National Travel Survey
Public attitudes towards transport
Rail
Sea passengers
Walking and cycling
International journeys Aviation
Public attitudes towards transport
Rail
Sea passengers
International freight Port freight
Rail
Road freight
Shipping fleet

Background Information

We would welcome any feedback on these statistics by email. We will attempt to address any comments in a subsequent release.

Notes and definitions for each of the topics covered in TSGB are available.

The majority of the annual statistics in this release are National Statistics. This means they are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure they meet customer needs.

These annual statistics were designated as National Statistics in July 2010.

Details of ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release are available.

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Contact details

Publications, dissemination and Transport Statistics Great Britain

Email transport.statistics@dft.gov.uk

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

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