Domestic Transport Usage by Mode
Updated 10 July 2024
© Crown copyright 2024
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
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 July 2023
Usage is shown as a percentage of pre-Covid 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 level, across all modes
Transport usage as a proportion of pre-Covid levels, Great Britain, July 2023 to July 2024
Description of figure 1: This figure presents a series of 4 line charts which show transport usage as a proportion of pre-Covid 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 levels, whereas motor vehicles usage has remained closer to pre-Covid 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 11 June 2024 to Monday 8 July 2024[footnote 1]) to the previous publishing period (Tuesday 14 May 2024 to Monday 10 June 2024) as a percentage of the pre-Covid 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 exc. Elizabeth Line) | 91% (Sunday 30 June 2024) | Passenger journeys in the week ending Sunday 30 June 2024 were 91% of those observed in the equivalent week in 2019. In the current publishing period, weekly average usage figures have been between 85% to 92%, compared to 77% to 93% in the last publishing period. These figures exclude Elizabeth Line services usage |
| Bus (GB exc. London) | 82% (Monday 8 July 2024) | Bus boardings outside of London on Monday 8 July 2024 were 82% of the volume observed on the equivalent day in the third week of January 2020. This is unchanged compared to the equivalent day in the previous year (81% on Monday 10 July 2023). In the current publishing period weekday bus usage has been between 80% to 90% of the pre-Covid baseline, in comparison to between 76% to 90% in the last publishing period |
| London Bus | 82% (Friday 5 July 2024) | TfL bus boardings on Friday 5 July 2024 were 82% of the equivalent day in 2019. In the current publishing period usage has ranged between 82% to 87%, while usage in the last publishing period was between 84% to 90% of the pre-Covid baseline |
| London Tube | 75% (Friday 5 July 2024) | Tube entries and exits on Friday 5 July 2024 were 75% of the equivalent day in 2019. In the current publishing period usage has ranged between 75% to 85% while usage in the last publishing period was between 75% to 87% of the pre-Covid baseline |
| Motor Traffic (GB) | 104% (Monday 8 July 2024) | On Monday 8 July 2024 traffic volumes were 104% 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 (103% on Monday 10 July 2023). Weekday usage in this publishing period has been between 100% to 105% of the pre-Covid baseline, in comparison to 99% to 105% in the last publishing period |
-
Rail and TfL data are lagged compared to other modes. For rail, the current period therefore covers Monday 3 June 2024 to Sunday 30 June 2024, while the previous publishing period covers Monday 6 May 2024 to Sunday 2 June 2024. For TfL, the current period covers Saturday 8 June 2024 to Friday 5 July 2024, while the previous publishing period covers Saturday 11 May 2024 to Thursday 6 June 2024 ↩