Summary Transport Statistics
Introduction
This chapter highlights some of the main findings from Scottish Transport Statistics, the accompanying summary tables provide longer term trends than those included in the individual chapters and include comparisons between Scotland and Great Britain. This publication covers data up until 2024-25.
The content of this chapter
This chapter covers the following topics:
- Overview of travel in Scotland
- Motor vehicles, traffic and road casualties
- Public transport: bus, rail, air and ferry
- Personal travel (e.g. driving, walking and cycling; travel to work and school)
- Cross-border transport
- Environment and emissions
Overview of travel in Scotland
Transport and travel habits in Scotland were profoundly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with restrictions on travel and daily activity in place for large parts of 2020 and some of 2021.
In 2024-25, public transport journeys rose by 2%, with 457 million public transport journeys made by either bus, rail, air, or ferry. This compares with the 446 million public transport journeys recorded in 2023-24.
Bus remained by far the most commonly used form of public transport in 2024-25, with 73% of public transport journeys made by bus, 19% by rail, 6% by air and 2% by ferry.
The number of bus journeys increased by 2% in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24. However, this was 7% lower than the number of journeys prior to the pandemic in 2019-20. Prior to this, bus passenger numbers had been following a generally declining trend, dropping by 10% in the ten years leading up to 2019-20.
Rail journeys showed an increase of 4% over the year 2024-25. However, this was 12% lower than in 2019-20. In the years immediately prior to the pandemic rail use had been steadily increasing.
Air passengers increased by 8% between 2023 and 2024, but were still down 2% compared with 2019. Air passenger numbers had increased by 28% in the ten years prior to the pandemic. Ferry passenger numbers remained the same in 2024 as the previous year, and were 7% lower than in 2019.
Motor traffic also rose in 2024-25. Overall motor traffic increased by 2% in 2024-25 to reach a level 1% higher than prior to the pandemic. Car traffic increased by 2% in 2024-25 but still remains below pandemic levels. Prior to the pandemic, motor traffic had been following a steadily increasing trend with total road traffic increasing by 10% in the 10 years up to 2019.
During the pandemic cycling was one of the few transport types to demonstrate an increase in traffic volume. Despite decreases in the years since, on-road cycling is still 5% higher than the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20.
The table below shows changes in the numbers and percentage changes for various forms of transport.
| Type | 2019-20 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Change over 1 year | Change since 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Car Traffic (million/veh km) | 36678 | 35,372 | 36,111 | 2% | -1.5% |
| Pedal Cycle Traffic (on-road) (million/veh km) | 365 | 403 | 383 | -5% | 4.9% |
| ScotRail Passengers (millions) | 96.4 | 81.2 | 84.7 | 4% | -12.2% |
| Bus Passengers (millions) | 361 | 329 | 334 | 2% | -7.5% |
| Air Passengers (millions) | 28.9 | 26 | 28.2 | 8% | -2.3% |
| Ferry Passengers (millions) | 10.4 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 0% | -7.1% |
Motor vehicles, traffic and road casualties
Motor vehicles
There were 3.2 million motor vehicles licensed in Scotland in 2024. Having increased slightly from 2023, this is the highest level recorded [Figure 1].
The total number of vehicles registered in Scotland has been increasing steadily over the longer term. The current total is 12% higher than in 2014 and has more than tripled since 1964.
The number of new vehicle registrations in 2024 was 212,000. Whilst this was 3% higher than in 2023, it was still below the figure for 2019 (221,000), which itself was the third successive annual decrease. Taken together, the trends in total vehicles registrations and new vehicle registrations suggests that in recent years people have been buying fewer new vehicles, but retaining existing vehicles for longer.
There were fewer vehicles per person in Scotland than in Great Britain as a whole (57 compared to 60 per hundred population), as has consistently been the case in recent years.
The road network
There were 57,452 kilometres of public road in Scotland in 2024. Seven per cent of this was trunk road, which is managed centrally by Transport Scotland; the remaining roads are the responsibility of Local Authorities.
In Scotland, there was 10.4 kilometres of road per 1,000 people, compared to 5.9 km per 1,000 people in GB as a whole.
Road traffic
In 2024, 49.3 billion vehicle kilometres were travelled on Scotland’s roads, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year, and 1% more than in 2019.
Prior to the pandemic, the volume of traffic on major roads (Motorways and A roads) had more than doubled since 1983, from an estimated 14,185 million vehicle kilometres to around 32,000 million vehicle kilometres in 2019 [Figure 2].
Road casualties
In 2024, 161 people were killed and 1,978 seriously injured in road collisions.
The total number of casualties on Scottish roads fell 2% between 2023 and 2024. Prior to the pandemic, recorded casualties were following a long-term declining trend [Figure 3]. The total number of road casualties decreased by 49% over the last decade. Casualties of all severities have fallen over this period.
In Scotland in 2024, for every thousand people in the population, 0.39 were killed or seriously injured in road collisions, compared to 0.44 for Great Britain.
In 2024, car users accounted for three fifths of all casualties (60%), with car casualties increasing by less than 1% and pedestrian casualties falling by 5% in 2024 [Figure 4].
Public transport: bus, rail, air and ferry
Local bus and rail services
Bus
Bus travel in Scotland was profoundly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with restrictions on travel and daily activity in place for large parts of 2020 and some of 2021.
In 2024, there were 334 million bus passenger journeys, an increase of 2% on the previous year [Figure 5]. Over half (55%) of all bus journeys in 2024 were made under the National Concessionary Travel scheme. This compares with 38% of journeys in 2019, although in early 2022 the scheme was expanded to include those aged under 22.
Prior to the pandemic, bus passenger journeys had been falling over the longer term. The figures almost halved between 1960 and 1975 and roughly halved again by 2019.
The distance covered by local bus services (expressed in terms of ‘vehicle kilometres’) can be seen as a measure of bus service provision. This was 5% higher in 2024 than 2023, but 12% lower than in 2019.
Rail
Rail travel in Scotland was profoundly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with restrictions on travel and daily activity in place for large parts of 2020 and some of 2021.
There were 84.7 million ScotRail passenger journeys in 2024-25, an increase of 4% from 2023-24 [Figure 5].
Prior to the pandemic, rail patronage had been rising steadily and but it was 9% lower in 2024-25 compared to 2014-15.
The distance covered by scheduled trains in Scotland rose by 4% in 2024-25, the same percentage increase as was seen for passenger journeys.
Air and ferry passengers
Air
There were 28 million air terminal passengers in 2024, up 8% compared to the previous year, but 3% lower than in 2019. Prior to the pandemic, air passenger numbers had been increasing over time, with a 28% increase in the ten years up to 2019 [Figure 6].
In 2024, 3.8% of all terminal passenger traffic was from within Scotland, 34% was to or from other parts of the UK, 49% was between Scotland and mainland Europe.
Ferry
In 2024, 9.7 million passengers travelled by ferry (including traffic within Scotland and to and from Northern Ireland), a 0.3% increase on the previous year [Figure 6].
Across all ferry routes, 3.5 million vehicles were carried in 2024 (including traffic between Scotland and Northern Ireland and within Scotland), a 3% increase on 2023.
Note: In the above figure, ‘selected services’ refers to those services for which data is available back to 1975 – Caledonian MacBrayne, P&O Scottish Ferries, Northlink Orkney and Shetland Ferries and Orkney Ferries
Personal travel (e.g. driving, walking and cycling; travel to work and school)
In 2024, 71% of people aged 17 or over had a full driving licence. The proportion of men aged 17+ holding a licence was higher than women (75% compared to 67%).
35% of people drove every day in 2024, with around 73% of households having access to at least one car.
Twenty five per cent of employed people reported that they currently worked from home. This compares with 16% in 2019.
Of those that travelled to work in 2024, 31% of journeys to work were by public or active travel [Figure 7].
Sixty four per cent of people were either very or fairly satisfied with public transport in 2024, the same as 2023.
Cross-border transport
As with transport more generally, cross-border transport was significantly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. In 2024, there were 11 million air and ferry passenger journeys to other parts of the UK, the same as 2023. The majority of these journeys were made by air (10 million).
The most recently available figures for cross-border rail journeys are for 2023. These show 10 million passenger journeys were made to other parts of the UK in 2023.
In 2024, 16.7 million passenger journeys were made to and from other countries by air, an increase of 48% since 2014.
Environment and emissions
The most recently available figures for transport emissions relate to 2023.
Transport accounted for 33.2% of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2023. Scotland’s transport emissions in 2023 were 1.1% higher than in 2022, and 12.8% lower than in 1990.
In 2023, passenger cars accounted for 39% of transport greenhouse gas emissions [Figure 8].
Over the longer term, newly registered cars have become more efficient in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, with average CO2 emissions in Scotland for new car registrations falling by 8% over the last ten years.
At the end of 2024, ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) accounted for 3.8% of vehicles licensed in Scotland , an increase from 2.9% at the end of 2023.
Official Statistics
These statistics are official statistics. Official statistics are statistics that are produced by crown bodies, those acting on behalf of crown bodies, or those specified in statutory orders, as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
Data and Methodology
Information on the notes, definitions and sources for each of the chapters in the publication can be found in the individual chapter user guides.
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Andrew Knight
Transport Scotland Analytical Services
E-mail: transtat@transport.gov.scot
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