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National Travel Survey 2022: Introduction and main findings

Updated 14 December 2023

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-travel-survey-2022/national-travel-survey-2022-introduction-and-main-findings

About this release

The National Travel Survey (NTS) is a household survey of personal travel by residents of England travelling within Great Britain, from data collected via interviews and a seven-day travel diary, which enables analysis of patterns and trends. This release covers the main findings from these travel behaviours during 2022. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from March 2020, has had a substantial impact on travel trends since 2020 and has affected the operation of this survey.

Fieldwork for the NTS 2022 survey continued to be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, with data collection operating using the same knock-to-nudge method as in 2021 for the first three months of 2022 due to the emergence of the Omicron variant in late 2021. From April onwards, the survey returned to operating a face-to-face methodology with a phone back-up where this was not possible.

The final response rate for NTS 2022 was 31%. This is a fall of seven percentage points since NTS 2021 (38%). This means that the final fully productive sample was 19% lower than 2021 levels (9,971 individuals) with 8,087 individuals participating in the survey in 2022. This was 44% lower than pre-pandemic levels (14,356 individuals responded in 2019). An assessment suggests the drop in response rates between 2021 and 2022 is mainly driven by an increase in the proportion of households who provide some but not all of the requested information, and an increase in the refusal rate. This, along with other factors including a decline in the availability of trained interviewers over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, helps to explain why response rates remain below historic levels.

Analysis of the responding sample shows that the profile of respondents was more similar to those achieved in pre-pandemic years than in 2020 or 2021, however some differences remain. Along with a more even response rate across the year, and a lower proportion of responses collected by telephone, this means that a lower level of corrective weighting was needed, and therefore the effective sample size for 2022 was larger than in 2021 and the data considered more robust, despite a smaller number of responses. Caution is needed when interpreting these results for 2020 to 2022 as they are likely to be less representative of residents of England compared to previous years. Please see our latest technical report for more details.

Main findings

Average trips made by people living in England have increased by 14% in 2022 compared to 2021, however, trip rates remain lower than in 2019 (-10%) with 862 trips made on average in 2022.

There were increases in trip rates amongst all transport modes in 2022 compared to 2021, apart from cycling and London Underground trips which remained broadly similar. Trip rates for all transport modes were however still lower than 2019 (pre-pandemic) apart from walking trips. These saw an increase of 7% with 267 walking trips per person, and 2022 average walking distance travelled was the highest on record since 2002 with 221 miles per person. In 2022, females of all ages made more walking trips on average and also walked a greater distance than males, with the age group 30 to 39 making the most walking trips, 374 trips per person. Nearly all walks recorded in the NTS were under 5 miles in 2022 (99.8%). Most trips to and from school for trip length of under 1 mile were made by walking (86% for children aged 5 to 10 and 90% for children aged 11 to 16) in 2022.

In 2022, average trips increased for both car drivers and passengers[footnote 1] to 337 trips per person and 165 trips per person respectively, however, these remained below pre-pandemic levels. Females of all ages made more car trips than males, however, males made longer car journeys than females. Outside London, residents in England relied on cars for commuting, with 69% of commuting trips made by car by residents from urban areas excluding London, and this increases to 84% by residents in rural areas.

Average trips by bus increased in 2022 by 59% within London and 35% outside London, however, trip rates remained below pre-pandemic levels. Both males and females aged 17 to 20 made the most bus trips in 2022 with 92 and 105 trips per person respectively. Secondary school children (aged 11 to 16) made 38% of all trips to and from school which are 2 to under 5 miles in length, by bus, and 44% of all trips to and from school which are 5 miles and over in length, by bus.

There have been increases in trips for all purposes in 2022 compared to 2021 apart from day trips and other including just walk trips which decreased further compared to their all-time high in 2020. However, these were the only trip purposes to remain at higher rates than pre-pandemic levels with 34 and 92 trips per person respectively in 2022.

The most common trip purpose in 2022 was for shopping with 151 trips per person. Females aged 50 and over and males aged 60 and over made most of their trips for shopping in 2022. This was followed by commuting with 119 trips per person. Commuting also accounted for the longest distance travelled with 1,008 miles per person.

COVID-19 and travel in 2022

Towards the end of 2021, with the emergence of the Omicron variant, the Government issued guidance including ‘work-from-home’ for office workers, which would have impacted personal travel at that time through to early 2022. The National Travel Survey has found that broadly, personal travel in 2022 has not returned to pre-pandemic trends and patterns, although there were increases in all transport modes apart from cycling and London Underground trips which have remained fairly stable compared to the previous year. This is consistent with Department for Transport’s COVID-19 transport use statistics which show that travel by various transport modes, whilst varying month-to-month, remained below the pre-pandemic reference point, especially in the early part of the year.

Chart 1: Trends in trips taken, miles travelled, and hours spent travelling: Great Britain (1972 to 1988) and England (1989 to 2022) (NTS0101)

From the early 1970s to the early 2000s, the average distance people travelled per year increased, but the number of trips and time spent travelling stayed broadly the same. From then, miles travelled on average gradually declined, however the average number of trips per person and hours spent travelling remained broadly stable until 2019. In 2020 there was a sharp decline in average miles, trips and hours travelled compared to 2019, during a year when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in restrictions on travel. In 2021, average miles travelled was the lowest on record and remained at a similar level to 2020, but has since increased to 5,373 miles in 2022 (remaining -17% compared to 2019). The average number of trips and time spent travelling also increased in 2022 compared to 2021.

Chart 2: Trends in trips taken, miles travelled and hours spent travelling: England, 2002 to 2022 (NTS0101)

People made 862 trips on average in 2022, or 17 trips a week. This was an increase of 14% compared to 2021, but remained a decrease of 10% compared to 2019 (953 trips on average). People travelled on average 5,373 miles in 2022, a 24% increase compared to 2021 (4,329 miles on average) but a decrease of 17% compared to 2019 (6,500 miles on average). People spent 324 hours on average travelling in 2022, an increase of 19% compared to 2021 (273 hours on average) but a 12% decrease compared to 2019 (370 hours on average). This includes 24 minutes per cycling trip, 21 minutes per car driver trip and 18 minutes per walking trip, on average in 2022.

Background information

The 2022 National Travel Survey (NTS) is the latest in a series of household surveys of personal travel by residents of England travelling within Great Britain, from data collected via interviews and a seven-day travel diary. The NTS is part of a continuous survey that began in 1988, following ad-hoc surveys from the 1960s, which enables analysis of patterns and trends.

Some key uses of the data include describing patterns, for example how different groups of people travel, monitoring trends in travel, including sustainable modes; assessing the potential equality impacts of different groups; and contributing to the evaluation of policies.

We always welcome feedback to help ensure that the survey meets the needs of users, and any feedback provided will help inform the future design and development of the survey. If you have any feedback, please email National Travel Survey statistics.

National Statistics

These statistics are designated as National Statistics. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. The Code of Practice for Statistics plays an essential role in ensuring that statistics published by government inspire the public confidence through demonstrating trustworthiness and providing high-quality statistics. These statistics were designated as National Statistics in July 2011. The continued designation was confirmed in September 2018.

Further information about these statistics is available, including:

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  1. All references to ‘car’ include a small number of vans. ↩

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