More people using buses and airports than pre-pandemic, data shows

Passenger numbers on Irish buses and the number of people passing through Irish airports both climbed above pre-pandemic levels at the end of August, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.

The new data was published in the CSO’s transport bulletin for August, which captures changing traffic volumes and the number of journeys taken on public transport.

It shows the number of bus journeys in the week beginning August 28th in Dublin continued to exceed pre-pandemic figures, with an increase of 9 per cent when compared with the same week in 2019 (the last full year before the pandemic).

Comparing the same week with 2022, there was a 16 per cent increase in the number of bus trips in Dublin.

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The rate of bus journeys outside of Dublin that week exceeded 2019 figures by 20 per cent and by 19 per cent when compared with the same week in 2022.

Luas journeys for the week beginning August 28th increased by 13 per cent when compared with the same week in 2022. However, they were down 6 per cent compared to the same week in 2019.

The data also shows the number of passengers at Dublin Airport in August was 12 per cent higher than July 2022, and 1 per cent higher when compared with the same month in 2019, before the onset of Covid-19.

There were 3,419,986 passengers handled by Dublin Airport in August this year compared with 3,399,714 passengers in August 2019.

For the first eight months of 2023, there were 22,491,935 passengers handled by Dublin Airport compared with 22,268,473 passengers in the same period in 2019.

The figures also show the number of passengers handled by Cork Airport in August was 14 per cent higher than August 2022 and 3 per cent higher when compared with same month in 2019.

In total there were 3,828,839 passengers handled by Dublin, Cork and Knock airports in August, up from the 3,791,420 recorded for same month in 2019.

Separately, there were 11,328 new private cars and 4,559 used (imported) private cars licensed in August. This was up by 27 per cent for new private cars compared with August 2022, while used private cars were up by 4 per cent.

Fatalities on Irish roads have also increased with 26 recorded in August this year compared to 12 in August 2022 and 21 in August 2021.

At 297 million litres, the data also shows that clearances of autodiesel in July were 0.3 per cent higher than in July 2022 and 5 per cent lower than in July 2021. At 85 million litres, clearances of petrol in July were 6 per cent higher than in July 2022.