Passenger Journeys On Public Transport Were Below Pre-Pandemic Levels At End Of April

By Dave Simpson
Passenger Journeys On Public Transport Were Below Pre-Pandemic Levels At End Of April

According to data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the number of passenger journeys on public transport at the end of April was below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, with public transport journeys in the week that started on 24 April 2022 being 77% of the number in early March of 2020, before the pandemic began.

Rail And Bus Journeys

In a statement published on its website, the CSO said that the number of bus journeys in Dublin for week that started on 24 April 2022 was 79% of the level in early March 2020, and that this compared with 90% for bus journeys outside of Dublin and 63% for rail journeys.

The CSO noted that rail data includes passenger journeys on Intercity and DART services.

Luas Journeys

Meanwhile, Luas journeys increased by 86% between the start of January and the end of April of this year, but Luas journeys in the 17th week of this year were below pre-pandemic levels, with the number of journeys in the 17th week of this year being 80% of the level for the same week in 2019 for the Luas red line and 81% for the Luas green line, according to the statement published on the CSO's website.

Airport Passenger Data

The statement published on the CSO's website also said that COVID-19 restrictions led to a sharp decrease in the number of passengers that were handled by Irish airports.

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The number of passengers in Dublin Airport in April of this year was over 19 times higher than in April of last year, but 85% of the level seen in the same month in 2019, with there being 2,369,286 passengers in April of 2022 and 2,789,660 in pre-pandemic April of 2019, according to the statement published on the CSO’s website.

Additionally, the statement published on the CSO's website noted that Ireland West Airport Knock was closed from April to June of 2020 and from February to May of 2021, and that Cork Airport was closed in October of 2021, and that Kerry data for April of this year was not available at the time of the publication of the statement.

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