Personal Travel

In 2025, 74% of people had travelled the day before their survey interview. Travel activity has been increasing since 2022 and returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2024. [Table TD1, Figure 1].

The average number of trips per adult the day before the survey interview was 2.12. [Table TD2e, TD3a].

Figure 1: Percentage of adults travelling the previous day, 2015 to 2025

A line chart showing the percentage of adults who travelled the day before the survey. Percentages have returned to the mid 70s (74% in 2025) having risen from 61% in 2022 after the pandemic.

Who travels?

The percentage travelling increased with income, with 61% of those in the £10,000 to £15,000 group travelling compared to 81% of those with an income above £50,000. [Table TD1 and Figure 2]

Figure 2: Percentage of adults travelling the previous day by household income, 2025

A column chart showing that the likelihood of having travelled the previous day rises as household income rises.

How do people travel?

Driving a car or van was the most common mode of transport, accounting for half of journeys (50%) in 2025. Walking was the next most common mode of transport at 28% of journeys in 2025. 11% of journeys were as car or van passenger, 7% by bus and 2% by rail. [Table TD2, Table SUM1, and Figure 3]

Figure 3: Breakdown of transport modes used for all journeys, 2025

A bar chart showing the share of journeys by mode of transport. Driving has the biggest share at 50%, followed by walking at 28%.

Why do people travel?

The two most common reasons for travel were shopping (22% of journeys) and commuting (17% of journeys). ‘Going for a walk’ was the reason for 13% of journeys. [Table TD3 and Figure 4].

Figure 4: Purpose of travel (most frequent categories), 2025

A bar chart showing the share of journeys by the purpose of the journey. The top four purposes are shopping (22%), commuting (17%), going for a walk (13%) and visiting friends or relatives (10%).

Working from home

In 2025, the proportion of employed people who described themselves as working at or from home was 27%. This continues to be above the percentage in 2019 (16%). [Table 7a]

Travel to School

How do children travel to school?

Almost half of children (47%) walked to school, over a quarter (29%) travelled by car and a fifth (20%) used a bus. Walking to school has fallen compared to 2023 (47% vs 53%) while there has been a rise in travelling by car (29% vs 24%) and use of a service bus (8% vs 4%).

There was variation in mode of travel by age. In the 4 to 11 age group, 54% reported walking to school, compared to 40% in the 12 to 18 age group. The older age group were more likely to catch a bus than younger children (34% compared to 8%). [Table 15 and Figure 5]

Figure 5: Method of travel to school, 2025 (main modes)

A bar chart showing modes of travel to school by age group. Primary-aged children (age 4 to 11) are more likely to walk or be driven to school than secondary-aged (age 12 to 18). Secondary-aged are much more likely to take a bus than primary-aged (34% versus 8%).

How long do people travel for?

Duration of travel

The majority of journeys reported were of short duration. 68% of journeys lasted up to 20 minutes. Only 4% lasted more than an hour. [Table TD6 and Figure 6]

Figure 6: Percentage of journeys made by duration of journey, 2025

A bar chart showing percentages of the duration of journeys. 68% of journeys take under 20 minutes, 29% take 21 to 60 minutes, 4% take over 60 minutes.

Distance travelled

In 2025, over half (57%) of journeys were under 5 km. [Table TD4 and Figure 7]

The median journey length was 3.8 km, and the mean journey length was 12.7 km. [Table TD5]

Figure 7: Percentage of journeys by distance, 2025

A bar chart showing percentages of journeys by distance. 57% are under 5km, 28% are between 5km and 20km, 15% are 20km or more.

Walking journeys were an average (median) length of 1.1 km, with car driver journeys at 6.7 km and rail the longest at 26.4 km. [Table TD5a and Figure 8]

Figure 8: Average (median) distance (km) by different modes of transport, 2025

A bar chart showing the median distance for modes of transport. The rail median is highest at 26.4km, the driving median is 6.7km and the bus median is 5.2km.

77% of journeys under 1 km were made on foot; car journeys (whether as a driver or passenger) accounted for most of the remainder (17%). Car was the most common mode of travel for all distance groupings greater than 2 km. [Table TD2a]