The number of people commuting to work has fallen again, according to new numbers, declining by 5% last year compared to 2023. This marks a 21% drop since 2019, showing the sustained effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on daily travel habits.
The figures come from the 2024 National Transport Survey (NTS) for England, which collects information on personal travel by England’s residents travelling in Great Britain. Despite its decline, commuting was still named the second most common journey purpose, beaten only by shopping trips. However, these are also down by 8% since before the pandemic.
Travelling by car remains our main mode of transport, based on the study. Car (driver and passenger) trips made up 59% of all journeys and 76% of the overall distance travelled on average in 2024. However, the average number of trips for car drivers and passengers was still below pre-pandemic levels.
In England, around 44% of households had access to one car, and fewer (34%) had two or more in 2024. More than half (59%) of cars were petrol, 30% were diesel, 6% hybrid, 4% battery electric and 2% plug-in hybrid.
Other modes of transport saw a marked improvement last year. Surface rail trips climbed by 13% from 18 to 21 trips per person year-on-year. Meanwhile, passengers outside of London used buses slightly more often (increasing from 25 to 28 trips per person on average), but usage in the capital fell during the same period.
Cycling accounted for 2% of all trips in 2024, and cyclists took around the same number of trips as the previous year, at 15 per person. This is slightly below the average for 2019, which was 16 trips per year.
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