National Travel Survey

About the survey

The National Travel Survey is a household survey of personal travel by residents of England travelling within Great Britain. The data collected via interviews and a 7-day travel diary is used by the government to develop its transport policy and make sure transport plans meet England’s travel needs.

The digital travel diary

In 2025, the NTS adopted a new, digital-first approach, offering respondents a digital diary as the primary mode of completing the travel diary. A paper option was available for those who were unable or unwilling to use the digital format. This replaced the paper-only approach that was in place since the survey’s inception in 1965.

The launch of the digital travel diary in 2025 followed a comprehensive series of testing, including a large-scale parallel run in 2024, helping to ensure a smooth transition from paper to digital data collection. A full report on the parallel run was published in September 2026 by the Department for Transport.

Findings

The latest National Travel Survey report was published in September 2026 by the Department for Transport. This report covers the full survey year 2025.

How often people travel

People living in England made on average 841 trips on average in 2025. Average trips made by people living in England have decreased by 9% in 2025 compared to 2024 (922 trips on average). A report exploring changes in trip rates reported under the digital-first approach was published in September 2026 by the Department for Transport.

How far people travel

The average distance travelled in 2025 was 5,605 miles, a 8% decrease compared to 2024 (6,082 miles on average). The longest distance travelled was for commuting with 1,031 miles per person in 2025, which was similar to 2024 (1,007 miles on average).

Time people spent travelling

On average, in 2025 people spent 342 hours travelling. This includes 25 minutes per cycling trip, 22 minutes per car driver trip and 19 minutes per walking trip, on average in 2025.

How people travel

In 2025, trip rates for cycling and buses outside London remained similar to 2024, while trip rates for buses in London and the London Underground increased. In contrast, trip rates for walking, car travel (as both driver and passenger), and surface rail decreased in 2025 compared with 2024. Males made 3% fewer trips overall (827 trips per person) than females (853 trips per person) but travelled 17% further (6,060 miles per person by males, compared to 5,170 miles per person by females).

Why people travel

The most common trip purpose in 2025 was shopping with 145 trips per person. Commuting was the second most common trip purpose in 2025 with 112 trips per person. This remained similar to 2024 (111 trips per person).

Methodology

• In 2025 we selected a sample of 35,156 addresses in England. The sample was chosen to reflect people living in private households across England, so the survey results can be used to represent the wider population.
• All addresses in England had a known, non-zero chance of being selected to take part in the survey.
• We asked all members of selected households to complete an interview and a seven-day travel diary. Interviews were mainly completed face to face (F2F), with a phone back-up (PB) for immunosuppressed respondents. For the diary component, the NTS took a digital-first approach with a paper option available as a backup.
• We found out what types of transport respondents use, why they make the trips they do and how they go to work, school and to the shops. The information gathered is then used to help create a national picture of how people travel.
• A review was undertaken to assess whether recent changes to NTS sampling and weighting affected the calculation of complex standard errors for NTS 2025 and to identify any updates required to the methodology. A report on the complex standard errors was published in September 2026 by the Department for Transport.

Click on the links below to read the findings, technical report, and additional reports.