Only one in four primary pupils walk or cycle to school
Date published:
New official statistics published today by NISRA statisticians in the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) present information on travel to/from school by pupils in Northern Ireland for 2024/25.
Key findings
Primary school:
- Almost two-thirds of primary school pupils (64%) were driven to school by car as their main way of travelling, while just over a quarter (27%) walked or cycled and fewer than one in ten (9%) took the bus.
- Nearly half of primary school pupils (49%) lived a mile or less from school. Of these, just over half (52%) were still driven by car, while 48% walked or cycled
- Of those who walked to school, nine in ten (90%) walked the entire way. Most kept journeys short, with three-fifths (61%) spending 10 minutes or less walking each day.
Post-primary school:
- Almost half of post-primary pupils (47%) took the bus as their main way of getting to school, while nearly a third (31%) were driven by car and fewer than one in five (18%) walked or cycled.
- Post-primary pupils generally lived further from school than primary pupils. Half (50%) lived four or more miles away, which helps explain the higher reliance on the bus.
- Of those who lived less than a mile from school, nearly two-thirds (63%) walked or cycled, the highest rate of active travel across any distance group.
- Of those who walked to school, nine in ten (90%) walked the whole way. However, post-primary walkers faced longer journeys than primary walkers, with over a third (36%) spending more than 20 minutes walking each day.
About this publication
This report presents data from the 2024/25 Continuous Household Survey (CHS) in relation to travel to school by children in Northern Ireland.
The report provides annual statistics on the main method of travel to/from school and the proportion of primary school and post-primary school pupils who walk and cycle to school.
This information will be used to monitor the overall effect of the initiatives that are aimed at increasing the proportion of children who travel actively to school.
Further information
For the full report: Travel to/from school by pupils in Northern Ireland 2024/25
View data tables and background information: Travel to/from school by pupils in NI, 2024/25 | Department for Infrastructure