On average, NI residents travelled 6,002 miles per year during 2007-2009. The data comes from the Travel Survey for Northern Ireland, an in-depth report containing statistics for 2007-2009, that was made available today.

The publication is produced by the Central Statistics and Research Branch of the Department for Regional Development and contains information on trends in personal travel for Northern Ireland residents, how they travel, why they travel and some of the other factors affecting travel

This latest figure of 6,002 is similar to the average distance travelled per person per year in 1999-2001 (5,985 miles).

In 2007-2009, each person made an average of 914 journeys each year. This has decreased from the 1999-2001 average of 978 journeys per person per year.

Looking at the 17-year-old and over age group, a higher proportion of men (81%) held full car driving licences than women (66%) in 2007-2009.

However, there is some evidence that the gap is closing slightly. 66% of women now hold a car driving licence, an increase from 60% in 1999-2001, whereas there has been no real change in the proportion of men holding a licence during this time period.

Those living in the Belfast area travelled an average of 3,769 miles per year in 2007-2009, around 40% less than the 6,317 miles and 6,457 miles for those living in the East and West of Northern Ireland respectively.

During 2007-2009, adult men and women (aged 16 and over) made a similar number of journeys per year (923 for adult men, 948 for adult women).

However, adult men travelled 25% further than adult women, averaging 7,189 miles a year, compared to 5,761 miles for adult women.

There has been an increase of 30% in the average distance walked by Belfast residents from 186 miles per person per year in 1999-2001 up to 242 in 2007-2009.

There has been no real change over this time period in the average distance walked by people living in the east and west of Northern Ireland.

We collectively spent 308 hours per year travelling within Northern Ireland during 2007-2009 - approximately 13 days each year or 51 minutes per day.

Around 33 minutes per day were spent travelling by car and eight minutes per day were spent walking. The results in 1999-2001 were comparable.

In 2007-2009, 22% of journeys were made for leisure purposes (visit friends at private home/elsewhere, entertainment/public social activities, sport participate, holiday base, day trip), 20% for shopping, 16% for commuting and 13% for personal business. These results are comparable to 1999-2001.

Adult men made the largest proportion of their journeys for commuting and business (29%) in 2007-2009. For adult women, 18% of journeys were for commuting and business. The largest proportion of journeys made by adult women was for going to and from the shops. One quarter (25%) of the total journeys adult women made were for this purpose compared to nearly one fifth (19%) for adult men.

In 2007-2009, the majority of workers here used a car or van to travel to work (81%), the same as in 2003-2005. However, looking at sub regions, there have been some changes in travelling to work by car or van.

In Belfast there has been a decrease in usage from 67% in 2003-2005 to 59% in 2007-2009. This contrasts with a small increase in usage by workers from the East of Northern Ireland (from 81% in 2003-2005 to 84% in 2007-2009) and no real change for the West of Northern Ireland.

Fifteen percent of households in Northern Ireland said that they would be able to get a bus from their nearest bus stop every 15 minutes in 2007-2009, an increase from 7% in 1999-2001. Nearly one quarter (24%) said they did not know how often they could get a bus from their nearest stop.

See: www.drdni.gov.uk/index/statistics/stats-catagories.htm

(BMcC/GK)