Covid culls equivalent of one in 20 cars from daily travel - AA research
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Home-delivered takeaways may have added a million car and bike
trips each day last year Latest official coronavirus travel
statistics, released today, indicate that weekday car travel has
become entrenched at no more than 95% of its pre-covid level *.
Even that may be somewhat inflated by home deliveries of takeaway
meals being 17.5% up on pre-covid levels, the AA notes. The
Department for Transport figures show that, after the summer
holiday period, one in 20 cars in...Request free trial
Latest official coronavirus travel statistics, released today, indicate that weekday car travel has become entrenched at no more than 95% of its pre-covid level *. Even that may be somewhat inflated by home deliveries of takeaway meals being 17.5% up on pre-covid levels, the AA notes. The Department for Transport figures show that, after the summer holiday period, one in 20 cars in effect have been removed from normal daily traffic, and weekend car travel has fallen closer to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, while national rail travel has recovered to below 90% of normal, bus travel outside London continues to struggle to get to 85% of its pre-pandemic level. National Travel Survey statistics released a fortnight ago suggest that car travel, and probably cycling, has been boosted by home deliveries of takeaway food and drink. Of the 91% of all UK households that had ordered delivered goods and services last year, 60% had had takeaway meals driven or biked to their homes – up from 50%-52% in the two years before covid. More than half (51%) of households that had home deliveries received at least one a week. With 27.8 million households in the UK in 2020 and 25.3 million arranging home deliveries last year, the statistics suggest that more than half of the 60% that ordered takeaways (15.2 million) may have initiated at least one car or bike trip each week. That may have added seven million or more car, motor scooter or bicycle trips to UK travel each week, or close to 400 million a year. “Covid’s legacy has been to shake up UK travel patterns, whether that is in part down to more home working, less commuting and more home deliveries by car and bike,” says Edmund King, the AA’s president. “While the former may become ingrained, increased home deliveries of takeaways face the challenge of higher inflation and customers struggling with their budgets. “The introduction of a £2 bus fare cap in January for three months could be an interesting test if linked to park and ride facilities on the outskirts of major towns and cities. A £3 round-trip to use the park and ride in Cambridge has been hugely successful in converting millions of commuter car journeys into bus trips. “With petrol retailers stubbornly refusing to bring the pump price down to the 160p a litre it should be, averaging 167p instead, a five-mile car trip with a fuel consumption of 25 miles per gallon in rush-hour traffic costs £1.52 (£7.59 a gallon divided by 25 = 30.36p a mile). Without inner-city parking costs, and with much less hassle when sitting on a bus and the time to catch up on emails and social media, this may be a chance to inspire another change in travel patterns – while reducing congestion and improving the environment.” ends NOTES TO EDITORS: * **
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