524 million public transport journeys were made in 2016/17

National Statistics released today by Transport Scotland show that of public transport journeys 75 per cent were made by bus; 18 per cent by rail; 5 per cent by air and 2 per cent by ferry.

In addition to public transport journeys the publication also shows that in Scotland there were:

• 9 million motor vehicles licensed in Scotland by the end of 2016 and 270,000 new vehicle registrations in 2016. Eighty two per cent of all vehicles licensed were cars.
• There were 46.4 billion vehicle kilometres travelled on Scotland’s roads in 2016, a 2 per cent increase on the previous year.
• Car traffic is estimated to have increased by 2 per cent over the year to 35.4 billion vehicle kilometres and pedal cycle traffic is estimated to have increased by 3 per cent to 352 million vehicle kilometres in 2016.
• There were 393 million passenger journeys by bus in 2016, accounting for 75% of all public transport journeys.
• There were 94.2 million passenger journeys on ScotRail services in 2016/17, an increase of 1 per cent since 2015/16.
• There were 26.9 million air passengers at Scottish airports in 2016, an increase of 6 per cent in the last year.
• There were 10.1 million passengers on ferry services; 8.3 million passengers were on ferry routes within Scotland in 2016. Ferry passenger numbers have seen an increase of about 6 per cent over the year.
• Over the past five years air, rail and ferry passengers, car traffic and cycle traffic have increased but, bus passengers have seen a decrease.

These figures were published in the publication Scottish Transport Statistics. This compendium publication provides a comprehensive statistical picture of transport activity in Scotland, bringing together a wide range of transport related statistics that have been published throughout the last year by a number of organisations including Transport Scotland and the Department for Transport.

Topics covered include road transport and the road network, bus, rail, air, finance, international comparisons and environment and emissions.

The publication can be accessed online at:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/statistics/#42763

The figures released today were produced by independent statistical staff free from any political interference, in accordance with professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.