Key points

Public Transport in Northern Ireland

  • Around 8 in 10 (77%) respondents were satisfied with Public transport facilities in their area, down from 79% in 2020/21 and 2021/22.

  • One-fifth (20%) of respondents used public transport at least a few times per month, and three-fifths (60%) used public transport at least once a year.

  • The majority (96%) of respondents felt ‘very safe’ or ‘fairly safe’ when using public transport.

Infographic displaying key findings from the report

Introduction

At the centre of all the Department for Infrastructure’s policies for the decarbonisation of transport is the Hierarchy for Reducing the Carbon Impact of Transport. This hierarchy highlights three overarching policy areas - Reduce Trips, Shifting Mode and Switching Fuels. At the top of the hierarchy, Reduce trips focuses on policies that will assist in reducing the need length and frequency of private car journeys undertaken; For Shift Mode this heading supports and encourages the modal shift away from private cars to more attractive sustainable modes such as active travel and public transport; and Switching Fuels focuses on switching to zero or low carbon fuels.

The hierarchy acknowledges that an efficient decarbonised transport network will require more than a transition to zero-emission and low-emission vehicles (ZEV / LEVs). While ZEVs and LEVs are part of the solution, managing transport demand and embedding behaviour change is also of vital importance. DfI invests in developing better walking and cycling infrastructure and provides significant levels of funding to support and improve public transport services for passengers through a service agreement with Translink and provides grants to fund a range of passenger transport services aimed at reducing rural and social isolation across Northern Ireland. To support the uptake of ULEVs, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) provides a range of UK-wide e-car related grants including grants towards the purchase of plug-in cars and vans and grants for home, workplace and residential charge points.

To allow people and goods to move easily from door to door the Department will invest in low-carbon, accessible, efficient and sustainable transport services and infrastructure that will enable more people to walk, cycle and use public transport. Encouraging more sustainable and efficient ways of travelling as preferred choices could also contribute to reduced traffic congestion particularly in the peaks, improved air quality and encourage healthier, more environmentally sustainable lifestyles which would bring many other economic benefits.

Uses of the data

This publication presents information from the 2022/23 Continuous Household Survey (CHS) on frequency of public transport use, type of public transport used, satisfaction with using, and feelings of safety while using public transport.

The information will be used to assist the Department in focusing its policies on addressing the key issues that prevent people from taking up active and sustainable travel and to encourage more people to use active and sustainable methods of travel, where possible.

Please note that further analysis and Section 75 breakdowns may be available on request from ASRB.

Methodology changes due to COVID-19

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, data collection for the 2020/21 survey moved from face-to-face interviewing to telephone mode with a reduction in the number of questions. Telephone interviewing has remained in place for the 2021/22 survey, therefore caution should be used when interpreting trend data due to methodology and content changes during the 2020/21 survey period.

In 2020/21, the output from the survey, in terms of the range and depth of topics covered, was reduced from that of previous years, with the subsequent capacity for detailed analysis constrained. In 2021/22, the sample size for the CHS returned to normal and while the survey content was slightly impacted by the move to telephone interviewing, a larger number of questions were asked.

More information is available on the NISRA website.

Public Transport

1.1 Use of Public Transport

Question modules on attitudes towards Public Transport were previously included in the CHS (since 2017/18), however caution should be used when comparing trend data due to methodology and content changes during the 2020/21 survey period.

This section presents data from the 2022/23 Continuous Household Survey (CHS) in relation to frequency of public transport use, type of public transport used, satisfaction with using, and feelings of safety while using public transport. This information will be used to assist the Department in encouraging more people to use public transport.

Figure 1: How often do you use public transport? (%)

Less than a fifth of respondents use public transport ‘everyday’ (3%) or at least ‘once a week’ (11%) while a third (33%) said they ‘never’ use public transport.

Figure 2: Which public transport services do you use? (%)

Respondents who indicated that they used public transport were asked which public transport services they used and could select more than one answer. Over half of respondents had used ‘Ulsterbus’ services (52%) and 46% had used ‘NI rail’. City based services such as ‘Metro’ and ‘Glider’ were used by 21% and 11% of respondents respectively.

However, a much higher proportion of residents living in Belfast LGD had used the ‘Glider’ (41%) and ‘Metro’ (69%).

1.2 Satisfaction with Public Transport

Figure 3: Are you satisfied with public transport facilities in your area? (%)*

*due to methodology changes figures from 2020/21 are not directly comparable with previous years.

Respondents were asked to indicate whether or not they were satisfied with the public transport facilities in their area.

In 2022/23, just over three quarters of respondents (77%) said they were ‘satisfied’ with public transport facilities in their area. This is down from 2021/22 (79%) but up from 72% in 2017/18.

Figure 4: Are you satisfied with public transport facilities in your area? (by respondent group) (%)

Those aged 65 and over (83%) were more likely to say they were satisfied with public transport than any other age group. Those aged 25-49 were least likely to be satisfied with public transport facilities in their area (73%).

A higher proportion of respondents in urban areas (82%) said they were satisfied with public transport facilities in their area compared with those living in rural areas (70%).

Figure 5: Are you satisfied with public transport facilities in your area? (by local government district) (%)*

Over four in five (83%) respondents in Belfast City Council said they were satisfied with public transport facilities in their area, compared with seven in ten (70%) in Newry, Mourne and Down and Lisburn and Castlereagh..

Figure 6: Are you satisfied with public transport facilities in your area? (by Deprivation quintile) (%)

Satisfaction with public transport facilities in their area is similar when comparing those living in the most deprived areas (80%) and those living in the least deprived areas (81%).

Figure 7: For which reasons are you satisfied with public transport in your area (%)

Respondents were asked to indicated the reasons as to why they were satisfied with public transport in their area and could select more than one reason.

Reliability of service (61%), frequency of service (53%) and quality of service (47%) were the main reasons as to why respondents were satisfied with public transport in their area.

Figure 8: What encourages you to use public transport? (%)

Over half of respondents (54%) said “I find it convenient”, just under one quarter indicated “it saves time” and 2% of respondents stated “I don’t like driving” as the reason they are encouraged to use public transport.

1.3 Safety using Public Transport

Respondents were asked to consider how safe they feel when using public transport, in terms of crime and personal safety.

Figure 9: Do you feel safe using public transport? (%)

More than six in ten (62%) of respondents said they felt ‘very safe’ while using public transport, and more than three in ten (34%) said they feel ‘fairly safe’ using public transport. A small proportion of respondents (1%) said they feel ‘very unsafe’ using public transport.

Respondents were subsequently asked ‘During the last 12 months, have you been the victim of a crime while using public transport?’. Less than 0.5% said that they had been a victim of a crime so no further results have been reported.

Figure 10: Do you feel safe using public transport? (by respondent group) (%)

Male respondents (98%) were more likely than female respondents (95%) to say they felt ‘very safe’ or ‘fairly safe’ when using public transport.

Figure 11: Do you feel safe using public transport? (by local government district) (%)*

Feelings of safety while using public transport are generally high, and 99% of respondents in Mid Ulster and Derry and Strabane council areas said they felt ‘very safe’ or ‘fairly safe’ when using public transport.

The lowest proportion of respondents who said they felt ‘very safe’ or ‘fairly safe’ when using public transport was amongst those in Belfast and Causeway Coast and Glens, although still above 9 in 10 respondents (94%).

Figure 12: Do you feel safe using public transport? (by Deprivation quintile) (%)

Those living in the least deprived areas (98%) were more likely to feel ‘very safe’ or ‘fairly safe’ than those living in the most deprived areas (95%).

1.4 Public Transport Journey Planning

Respondents were asked about public transport journey planning including which methods that can be used to plan journeys by public transport they were aware of and which they used.

Figure 14: Which methods that can be used to plan journeys by public transport are you aware of? (%)

The majority of respondents (60%) indicated they were aware of timetables on the Translink website. Just under one quarter (23%) were aware of Translink call centre and 15% of respondents stated they were not aware of any journey planning methods.

Figure 15: Which methods do you use to plan your journeys? (%)

Over half of respondents said they used timetables on the Translink website, 16% used hard copy timetables and just over 1 in 20 respondents used the Translink call centre to plan their journeys.

Contact information

Appendices

Appendix A: Technical Notes

The Northern Ireland Continuous Household Survey

Data Collection

The information presented in this publication derives from the Northern Ireland Continuous Household Survey (CHS), a Northern Ireland wide household survey administered by Central Survey Unit (CSU), Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

It is based on a sample of the general population resident in private households and has been running since 1983. The survey is designed to provide a regular source of information on a wide range of social and economic issues relevant to Northern Ireland. The Active and Sustainable Travel in Northern Ireland questions which were commissioned by DfI are included in Appendix C of this report.

Note: Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, NISRA suspended all face to face household interviews in March 2020. In the reporting periods, April 2020 - March 2021 and April 2021 - March 2022, all interviews carried out on the Continuous Household Survey (CHS) were conducted by telephone. For this reporting year, April 2022 - March 2023, face to face interviewing was reinstated alongside telephone interviewing in July 2022, thus making the survey dual-modality. There are a number of factors. which users should take into consideration when interpreting the 2022-23 results and care should be taken when comparing these to previously published findings from the survey and more information is available on the NISRA website.

Data Quality

Data were collected by CSU and various validation checks were carried out as part of the processing. CSU is the leading social survey research organisation in Northern Ireland and is one of the main business areas of NISRA, an Agency within the Department of Finance. CSU has a long track record and a wealth of experience in the design, management and analysis of behavioural and attitude surveys in the context of a wide range of social policy issues. CSU procedures are consistent with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The CHS sample was assessed and considered to be a representative sample of the Northern Ireland population at household level.

Whilst data quality is considered to be very good, note that all survey estimates are subject to a degree of error and this must be taken account of when considering results. This error will be reasonably small for the majority of Northern Ireland level results but care should be taken when looking at results based on smaller breakdowns.

Respondents

The Continuous Household Survey is a Northern Ireland wide household survey administered by Central Survey Unit, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The sample for this survey consists of a systematic random sample of 9,000 addresses selected from the NISRA address register. The findings reported for 2022/23 are based on 2,527 respondents, aged 16 and over.

The number of respondents who answered each question, i.e. the base number, is stated in the commentary and/or the associated chart. The base number is the unweighted count.

Some questions were only asked if the respondent had answered ‘yes’ to a previous question. The base number may also vary between questions due to some respondents not answering certain questions.

Weighting

Analysis of the Public Transport and Journey Planning Northern Ireland module of the CHS has been weighted for non-response.

A chi square goodness-of-fit test showed that the CHS sample was not representative of the population by age and sex when compared with the 2021 Mid Year Population Estimates for Northern Ireland NISRA 29 November 2022. As a result, separate weights were produced for age and sex, and combinations of these variables.

Non-response weighting sometimes increases standard errors, although the impact tends to be fairly small, i.e. the adjustment may be less or greater than 1, but will generally be reasonably close to 1. In the case of the walking, cycling and public transport modules of the CHS, the values of the adjustment for all three weighting systems are so close to one, it is not necessary to take account of this in the calculation of standard error and confidence intervals.

While weighting for non-response (also called post-stratification) should reduce bias, it must be acknowledged that it will not eliminate bias. The reasons individuals choose to take part in surveys are complex and depend on lots of factors specific to the individual. As a result, the non-response biases in surveys are likely to be complex. Post-stratification works on the assumption that, by aligning the survey to the population along a small number of dimensions such as age, gender and MDM, many of these complex biases will reduce. However, it would be misleading to suggest that they will be eliminated.

Confidence Intervals

No sample is likely to reflect precisely the characteristics of the population it is drawn from because of both sampling and non-sampling errors. An estimate of the amount of error due to the sampling process can be calculated. For a simple random sample design, in which every member of the sampled population has an equal and independent chance of inclusion in the sample, the sampling error of any percentage, p, can be calculated by the formula: s.e. (p) = √(p*(100 – p)/n where n is the number of respondents on which the percentage is based. The sample for the Continuous Household Survey is drawn as a random sample, and thus this formula can be used to calculate the sampling error of any percentage estimate from the survey.

Multiple Response Questions
Multiple response questions are those for which respondents can give more than one response if they wish. In such questions, when individual percentages are summed they may add to more than 100%.

Rounding Conventions
Percentages have been rounded to whole numbers and as a consequence some percentages may not sum to 100. 0% may reflect rounding down of values under 0.5.

Significant Difference
Any statements in this report regarding differences between groups such as males and females, different age groups, dependant status, etc., are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. This means that we can be 95% confident that the differences between groups are actual differences and have not just arisen by chance. Both the base numbers and the sizes of the percentages have an effect on statistical significance.

Therefore on occasion, a difference between two groups may be statistically significant while the same difference in percentage points between two other groups may not be statistically significant. The reason for this is because the larger the base numbers or the closer the percentages are to 0 or 100, the smaller the standard errors. This leads to increased precision of the estimates which increases the likelihood that the difference between the proportions is actually significant and did not just arise by chance.

Respondent Groups
The following respondent groups were considered:

Age group
The age of the respondent is grouped into the following age bands: 16-24, 25-34, 35-49, 50,-64, 65 and over.

Sex
Sex of respondent is defined as whether the respondent is male or female.

Urban and rural areas
Urban and rural areas have been classified using the statistical classification of settlements defined by the Inter-Departmental Urban-Rural Definition Group.

  • Bands A to E are classified as Urban. This includes Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area (Band A), Derry Urban Area (Band B) and large, medium and small towns (Bands C-E) with populations greater than or equal to 5,000 people.
  • Bands F to H are classified as rural. This includes intermediate settlements (Band F), villages (Band G) and small villages, hamlets and open countryside (Band H) with populations of less than 5,000 people and including open countryside.

Local Government District
Local Government Districts include the 11 district council areas:

Antrim and Newtownabbey
Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon
Belfast
Causeway Coast and Glens
Derry and Strabane
Fermanagh and Omagh
Lisburn and Castlereagh
Mid and East Antrim
Mid Ulster
Newry, Mourne and Down
North Down and Ards

Multiple Deprivation Measure

The measures, known as NIMDM 2017, were informed through public consultation and Steering Group agreement, and provide a mechanism for ranking the 890 Super Output areas (SOAs) in Northern Ireland from the most deprived (rank 1) to the least deprived (rank 890).

They include ranks of the areas for each of 7 distinct types (or domains) of deprivation, which have been combined to produce an overall multiple deprivation measure (MDM) rank of the areas.

Deprivation quintiles

1 - Most deprived 2 3 4 5 - Least deprived

Appendix B: Confidence intervals

A confidence interval represents the range of values in which the true population value is likely to lie. It is based on the sample estimate and the confidence level. As the percentages are calculated from a representative sample of the Northern Ireland population (aged 16 and over), a confidence interval can be calculated to estimate the level of uncertainty in the sample estimate.

95% confidence intervals were calculated for the headline figures. Table B1 summarizes the confidence intervals for satisfaction with Walking, Cycling and Public Transport in Northern Ireland.

Table B1: Confidence intervals for Active and Sustainable Travel in Northern Ireland

Measure Estimate (%) Sample (n) 95% Confidence Range +/- Confidence Interval
% who use public transport at least once a year 60 2,511 2 58-62%
% who are satisfied with the current public transport situation and facilities in their local area at present. 77 2,316 2 75-79%
% who feel ‘very safe’ using public transport. 62 2,413 1 61-63%

  • The 95% confidence interval for respondents who use public transport at least once a year is 68% +/- 2%. This means that there is a 95% probability that the proportion of the Northern Ireland adult population who use public transport ‘everyday’ lies between 58% and 62%.

  • The 95% confidence interval for respondents who are satisfied with the current public transport situation and facilities in their local area at present is 77% +/- 2%. This means that there is a 95% probability that the proportion of the Northern Ireland adult population who are satisfied with the current public transport situation and facilities in their local area at present lies between 75% and 79%.

  • The 95% confidence interval for respondents who feel ‘very safe’ public transport situation and facilities in their local area at present is 62% +/- 1%. This means that there is a 95% probability that the proportion of the Northern Ireland adult population who feel ‘very safe’ using public transport lies between 61% and 63%.

Appendix C: Active and Sustainable Travel in Northern Ireland Questionnaire

ACTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL

PUBLIC TRANSPORT & JOURNEY PLANNING

[PUBTRAN1] I am now going to ask a few questions about public transport use. How often do you travel on public transport? INSTRUCTION: THIS WOULD BE TRAVEL ON NI RAIL, ULSTERBUS, METRO OR THE GLIDER

  1. Every day
  2. At least once a week
  3. At least once every 2-3 weeks
  4. At least once a month
  5. Once every 2-3 months
  6. Once every 6 months
  7. Once a year
  8. Less frequently
  9. Never >>>[TLINK5a]

[PUBTRAN2] Which public transport services do you use?

  1. Glider
  2. Metro
  3. Ulsterbus
  4. NI Rail
  5. Other bus service

[TLINK5a] In general, are you satisfied with public transport in your local area at present?

  1. Yes
  2. No

[TLINK6b]
If TLINK5a = Yes For which of these reasons are you satisfied with public transport in your local area? If TLINK5a = No May I ask, are there any reasons that you are satisfied with public transport in your local area?

  1. Reliability of service
  2. Quality of service
  3. Frequency of service
  4. Cost
  5. Ease of use
  6. Good access to information about services
  7. Accessibility
  8. None
  9. Other

[TLINK9] Which of the following reasons encourages you to use public transport? CODE ALL THAT APPLY

  1. I find it convenient
  2. It is a cheap way to travel
  3. It is free
  4. I enjoy it
  5. Environmental reasons
  6. It is the only form of travel that is accessible to me
  7. It saves time (for example to avoid traffic jams)
  8. I have no car
  9. I cannot drive
  10. I don’t like driving
  11. It is the most suitable travel for me
  12. There are no suitable alternatives
  13. Other

[PTSAFE1] IF PUBTRAN1 <> 9 In terms of crime and personal safety, how safe do you feel when using public transport?
Would you say you feel … IF PUBTRAN1 = 9 In terms of crime and personal safety, how safe would you feel if you were to use public transport? Would you say you feel … RUNNING PROMPT

  1. Very safe
  2. Fairly safe
  3. A bit unsafe
  4. Or very unsafe?

[PTSAFE2] During the last 12 months since [date year ago], have you been the victim of a crime while using public transport?

  1. Yes
  2. No

[PTSAFE3] How many times has this happened?

1, 2, … , 99

[TLINK1]
I am now going to ask a few questions about public transport journey planning. Which of the following methods that can be used to plan journeys by public transport are you aware of?

  1. Timetable - hard copy
  2. Timetable - on Translink website
  3. Translink call centre
  4. Translink journey planner - personal computer/laptop
  5. Translink journey planner - mobile app
  6. Timetable on other operator’s website
  7. None

Asked if PUBTRAN1 does not = 9 [TLINK3]
Which of these methods do you use to plan your journeys by public transport?

  1. Timetable - hard copy
  2. Timetable - on Translink website
  3. Translink call centre
  4. Translink journey planner - personal computer/laptop
  5. Translink journey planner - mobile app
  6. Other
  7. I don’t use public transport

Asked if selected more than one response to TLINK3 [TLINK4]
And which one of these methods do you use most often?

  1. Timetable - hard copy
  2. Timetable - on Translink website
  3. Translink call centre
  4. Translink journey planner - personal computer/laptop
  5. Translink journey planner - mobile app
  6. Timetable on other operator’s website
  7. Other

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