Accredited official statistics

NTS 2023: Mode share and multi-modal trips

Published 28 August 2024

Applies to England

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 7-day travel diary, which enables analysis of patterns and trends. Please see our latest technical report for more details. This release covers mode share and multi-modal trips from these travel behaviours during 2023. During 2023, there were no longer any restrictions due to the pandemic, therefore these trends offer an insight into how personal travel compared to 2019.

These are accredited official statistics and were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in September 2018. For more information, see the background information section.

Mode share for public, private and active travel modes

Chart 3: Public, private and active mode share by age band, sex, mobility difficulty and region of residence: England, 2023 (NTS0601), (NTS0709) and (NTS9903)

Age band

Children aged 0 to 16 made the highest proportion of trips using active transport modes such as walking and cycling in 2023 with 37%. Those aged 21 to 29 made 33% of their trips using active modes. Those aged 50 to 59 made the smallest proportion of trips using active modes with 26%.

The proportion of trips by active, private and public transport use was similar for people aged 40 and over. People aged 50 to 59 made the largest share of trips using private transport modes such as car, motorcycle and other private transport with 68%. Those aged 17 to 20 made the smallest proportion of their trips using private modes with 48%, however, this age group made the highest proportion of their trips using public transport modes such as bus, London Underground, rail and taxi or minicab with 22%.

Sex

The mode share between active, private and public transport modes was similar for both males and females. Trips by females were split 31% active transport modes, 60% private transport modes and 9% public transport modes, whereas trips by males were split 30% active transport modes, 62% private transport modes and 8% public transport modes.

Mobility difficulty

Those with no mobility difficulties made a slightly higher proportion of their trips using active transport modes with 29% compared to 27% for those with a mobility difficulty. However, those with no mobility difficulties made a smaller proportion of their trips using private transport modes with 62% compared to 64% for those with a mobility difficulty. Both those with and without a mobility difficulty made 9% of their trips using public transport modes.

Region

People living in London made the highest proportion of trips using active transport modes with 38% and public transport modes with 27%. Residents from the North East made the second highest proportion of their trips using active transport modes with 33%. The highest proportion of trips using private transport modes were made by residents of the West Midlands with 68%.

Mode share by trip length

Chart 4: Mode share of trips by main mode for different trip lengths: England, 2023 (NTS0308)

Most trips are relatively short. In 2023, 25% of trips were under 1 mile, and 71% under 5 miles. These proportions of short trips were broadly consistent with 2022 and 2019.

Walking was the most frequent mode used for short trips: 81% of trips under one mile were walks in 2023, similar to the proportion in 2022 (83%) and 2019 (80%). For all other distance bands, the car was the most frequent mode of travel. Nearly all walks recorded in the NTS were under 5 miles in 2023 (99.8%), compared with 59% of car trips, 71% of bus trips and 9% of trips by surface rail. These were similar to proportions in 2022 and 2019.

Around three-quarters (72%) of rail trips were 10 miles and over in 2023, similar to 2022 (75%) and in 2019 (74%).

Multi-modal trips

Chart 5: Proportion of trips recorded on day 1 of the travel diary using more than one transport mode by region of residence: England, 2023 (ad hoc analyses NTSQ09042)

Around 6% of trips were multi-modal (involving more than one transport mode) in 2023. The proportion of trips using more than one transport mode (multi-modal trips) varies by region. This ranges from 3% in the North East to 16% in London.

The below chart shows the modes used within trips by England residents. Most trips have only one stage and therefore a single mode, and the chart shows the various combinations of modes for trips where more than one is used. The most complex trips recorded in this data had 7 stages. Each column represents a stage, and the thickness of lines is proportional to the number of trips.

Chart 6: Flow of travel by mode for trips recorded on day 1 of the travel diary: England, 2023 (ad hoc analyses NTSQ09042)

Flow of trips between modes of transport

This analysis is based on data from the first day of the travel diary as this is the only day on which walks of under a mile are recorded. Walks of under 50 yards are not recorded.

The majority of trips (94%) in 2023 used a single mode of transport. For all trips in 2023, car driver was the most frequent mode to begin a trip, with 39%, followed by walk (33%) and car passenger (20%).

The following chart includes only the 6% of trips which were multi-modal, showing the various combinations of modes used within each trip.

Chart 7: Flow of travel by mode for multi-modal trips recorded on day 1 of the travel diary: England, 2023 (ad hoc analyses NTSQ09042)

Around two-thirds of trips using more than one mode started with walking (60%). Of these trips, public transport modes were used most often as the second mode in the trip, with surface rail being the most common (16% of multi-modal trips), followed by other local bus (12%), bus in London (11%) and London Underground (9%). Around 28% of multi-modal trips then continued with further walking.

Around 16% of multi-modal trips began with a car (as a driver or passenger), the majority of these trips continued with walking (9%) or surface rail (3%).

Mode share by household income and socio-economic classification

Chart 8: Average active, private, public and all trips by household income quintile: England, 2002 to 2023 (NTS0705)

Household income quintile

Income quintiles, come from dividing all households into 5 groups of equal size according to their level of real household income equivalent (accounting for inflation and household composition).

On average, people living in higher income households tend to travel more than people living in lower income households. In 2023, households within the fourth highest income quintile made the most trips on average with 981 trips per person, followed by the highest income quintile (963 trips per person), third income quintile (953 trips per person), second income quintile (884 trips per person) and the lowest income quintile (792 trips per person). Over time, these trips have decreased for households within all income quintiles.

Households within the lowest income quintile made the most active transport trips on average with 314 trips per person in 2023 (where walking and cycling are the main mode within the trip). Households within the fourth and highest income quintile made fewer active transport trips in 2023. Although fluctuating, these trips have remained fairly stable over time.

Households within the fourth highest income quintile made the most private transport trips (where car and motorcycle are the main mode within the trip). Households within the lowest income quintile made the least private transport trips. For households within the lowest to third income quintile, these trips have remained fairly stable over time, whereas these trips have decreased over time for households within the fourth and highest income quintile.

Households within the lowest income quintile made the most public transport trips (these trips include buses, London Underground, surface rail, taxi or minicab as the main mode), with 106 trips per person in 2023. This is followed by households within the highest income quintile with 86 trips per person in 2023. These trips have remained fairly stable over time.

Chart 9: Public, private and active mode share of trips by National Statistics Socio-economic Classification^{[footnote 1]}, people aged 16 and over: England, 2023 (NTS0708)

Overall, the shares of trips made using active, private and public modes were similar for people across the occupational categories, with less use of private transport for those in the never worked and long-term unemployed and student categories. Around two-thirds (64%) of trips for those in managerial and professional occupations were made where private transport is the main mode in the trip, 29% by active transport modes and 7% by public transport modes.

People who have never worked and long-term unemployed made the highest proportion of trips using active transport modes with 38% and the smallest proportion of trips using private transport modes (45%). These individuals as well as those with a socio-economic status as not classified which includes students, made the highest proportion of trips using public transport modes (17%).

Background information

The 2023 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 7-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 [email protected].

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in September 2018. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and are labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

Further information is available, including:

• data tables
• notes and definitions
• guidance and quality information
• future developments

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Contact details

National Travel Survey statistics

Email [email protected]

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1. The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) is a standard measure of socio-economic position across official statistics in the UK since 2001, used to explain variation in social behaviours. Here, it is used for individuals aged 16 and over. For more information, please see the NS-SEC methodology and guidance of the Office for National Statistics. ↩