Publication of Walking, Cycling and Public Transport in Northern Ireland 2018/2019

Date published: 24 October 2019

The report, produced by the Analysis, Statistics and Research Branch (ASRB) of the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), presents findings from the 2018/2019 Continuous Household Survey (CHS) and this is the second year that this question set was included in the CHS. The publication is available on the ASRB website at:

• Walking, Cycling and Public Transport in Northern Ireland 2018/19

The report presents headline information, as well as presenting results across age, gender, and geographic breakdowns.

Key Points

Walking

• 61% of respondents said they were satisfied with the current situation for walking and walkers in their local area at present.
• The main reasons people weren’t satisfied were ‘poor lighting at night’ (50%), ‘traffic goes too fast’ (46%), and ‘not enough footpaths’ (46%).
• 53% of respondents said they would be likely to walk short distances of up to 2 miles/3kms.
• The main reasons people were discouraged from walking were 'bad weather' (29%), 'lack of footpaths' (22%),'takes too long – the car is quicker'(21%).

Cycling

• 53% of respondents said they were satisfied with the current situation for cycling and cyclists in their local area.
• The main reasons people weren’t satisfied were 'no cycle lanes' (66%), 'traffic goes too fast' (42%) and ‘too much traffic’ (42%).
• 15% of respondents said they would be likely to cycle any journeys of up to 3 miles/5kms.
• The main reasons people were discouraged from cycling were 'don't own/have access to a bicycle' (55%), 'too much traffic/too dangerous' (22%) and ‘health/mobility make it impossible' (16%).

Public Transport

• 71% of respondents said they were satisfied with the current public transport situation and facilities in their local area.
• The main reasons people were not satisfied were 'not enough services' (68%), 'no direct services to where I want to go' (40%) and 'times of buses/trains not suitable' (34%).
• 45% of respondents said they would be likely to use public transport for journeys of up to 6 miles/10kms.
• The main reasons people were discouraged from using public transport were 'takes too long – the car is quicker' (36%), 'frequency of buses/trains, i.e. times of buses/trains not suitable' (23%) and 'prices too high' (15%).