The number of bus journeys exceeded pre-Covid levels for the first time in the final week of January, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said.
Bus journeys during the week of 23 January were 11% higher in Dublin and 27% higher than outside the capital compared to the same week in 2019, suggesting that commuting activity is returning to normal since the pandemic.
“While in 2022 public transport volumes stayed below 2019 figures, latest data show that in January 2023 the number of Luas and bus journeys exceeded pre-pandemic figures," said De Nele van der Wielen, statistician in the transport division of the CSO.
"The number of bus journeys in Dublin for the end of January 2023 (week beginning 23 January 2023) was 11% higher compared with the numbers of journeys in the same week in 2019. "
Travel on Dublin Bus during the first month of the year far exceeded weekly levels recorded in 2019, 2021 and 2022, with no data available for 2020.
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During the first week of the year, 2.33m journeys were recorded, ahead of just under 1.99m in 2019, and the totals have risen week on week, to 2.79m, 2.95m, and 3.16m in the final week of January.
The weekly figures in 2023 have equalled or surpassed the corresponding totals in 2019 (2.71m, 2.78m, 2.86m), while the 2021 and 2022 figures were suppressed largely due to restrictions and changed working and commuting behaviours.
A similar pattern is clear in the Luas data, with 949,000 journeys in the final week of January 2023, up from 860,700 and 904,800 in the same week in 2019 and 2019, respectively.
The CSO compiled data collected by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the Road Safety Authority, the National Transport Authority, Dublin City Council, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, and the Department of Transport for the figures.
There were 18 fatalities on Irish roads in January compared to 14 in the same month in 2022, and the number of new cars licensed last month increased 973 or 6% year-on-year.
There were 16,787 new private cars and 3,362 used (imported) private cars (+9%) licensed in January 2023.
(Pic: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie)
