Public transport usage in NI still below pre-pandemic levels

There were 1.26m train journeys in March 2019, up 22% on the same month in 2022

Journeys on public transport in Northern Ireland are still below pre-Covid levels.

Public transport usage in many countries has not fully recovered from the pandemic due to continued working from home.

Official figures showed there were there were 73.5m journeys on public transport in 2022/-23 compared to 83.4m in 2019-20.

Bus usage was 11% down while train journeys were 15% below the 2019 level.

Income from tickets sales in 2022-23 was just under £172m, down 5% compared to £181m in 2019-20.

Belfast Metro and Glider services still had almost 13% fewer journeys than before the pandemic while Ulsterbus journeys were down 10%.

Looking at the figures on a monthly basis suggested passenger numbers are still recovering.

There were 6.68m bus journeys in March 2023, up 13% on the same month in 2022 and the busiest month since December 2019.

There were 1.26m train journeys in March 2019, up 22% on the same month in 2022.

December 2022 was the busiest post-pandemic month with 1.39m journeys.

In 2018, Translink reported that the use of public transport in Northern Ireland was at its highest level in 20 years.