Only 8.5 per cent of people throughout the State use public transport to travel to work, the Central Statistics Office said yesterday. Almost 70 per cent of workers who use private transport claimed the public services were either not practical or unavailable.

Usage of public transport was highest in Dublin, where 16.1 per cent of workers travel by bus to work and 4 per cent go by train or DART. Some 40 per cent of Dublin workers said public transport was not practical.

Information compiled with the quarterly national household survey showed rising numbers of workers driving to work. While 54.1 per cent drove in the three months to the end of February, the last National Census said 46 per cent drove in 1996. Only 39 per cent drove in 1991.

While more than half of all workers leave their homes for work at 7.309 a.m., the CSO said one in eight workers left before 7 a.m.