The method of travel to/from school by pupils in Northern Ireland 2015/2016

This report, produced by the Analysis, Statistics and Research Branch (ASRB) of the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), presents findings from the 2015/2016 Continuous Household Survey (CHS). 2015/2016 was the third year that this question set was included in the CHS and this is the third such report produced.

The report says that among primary school pupils, just more than three fifths (61%) were driven to/from school by car and less than a third (29%) usually walked to/from school. One in 12 (8%) pupils travelled to/from school by bus, while no pupils cycled or took the train as their main mode of transport to and from school.

These figures are around the same as in 2014/15 (car 61%, walking 29%, bus 9%, bicycle 1%, train 0%).

The report also found that among post primary pupils, almost half (49%) travelled to/from school by bus as their main mode of transport, with 30% driven by car. Just under a fifth (18%) of older pupils walked to/from school while a small proportion took the train (1%).

Among these pupils there has been no real change since 2014/15 (bus 48%, car 30%, walking 19%, train 1%).

Focusing on cycling, while it was not their main mode of travel, 1% of primary school pupils cycled to/from school in 2015/16 (1% in 2014/15). However, 0% of post primary pupils cycled to/from school in 2015/16 (1% in 2014/15).