517 million public transport journeys were made in 2018/19

The Scottish Transport Statistics publication released today shows that the number of journeys being made by public transport in Scotland has fallen from 525 million to 517 million over the past year.

The statistics show that bus journeys, which accounted for 73% of all public transport journeys, or 380 million passenger journeys, fell by 2% between 2017 and 2018 and are down 10% over the past 5 years.

In comparison, there were 97.8 million passenger journeys on ScotRail services in 2018/19, an increase of 13% compared with 5 years ago, but the same as in 2017/18.

Over the same period, motor traffic has continued to increase. The number of motor vehicles registered in Scotland (3.0 million) is at an all-time high and the distance driven by motor vehicles on roads increased by 10% over the past five years to reach 47.8 billion vehicle kilometres in 2018.

Other findings presented in the publication include:

• The distance cycled on the Scottish road network is estimated to have increased by 8 per cent from 2017 to 313 million vehicle kilometres in 2018.
• There were 29.4 million air passengers at Scottish airports in 2018, an increase of 2 per cent in the last year and 27% over the past 5 years.
• There were 10.3 million passengers on ferry services in 2018, with 8.5 million passengers on routes entirely within Scotland. Ferry passenger numbers have increased by 6% over the past 5 years.

The publication can be accessed online at: https://www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/statistics#42763

The figures released today were produced by independent statistical staff free from any political interference, in accordance with professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.