Northern Ireland Transport Quarterly Statistics

24 March 2005
NORTHERN IRELAND TRANSPORT QUARTERLY STATISTICS
The latest edition of the Northern Ireland Road and Rail Transport Statistics Quarterly Bulletin containing statistics for the period 1 October to 31 December 2004 has been published today.

The publication is produced by the Central Statistics and Research Branch of the Department for Regional Development and contains information on new vehicle and car registrations, light goods and heavy goods registrations, vehicle and driving tests, use of public transport and deliveries of petroleum for use in Northern Ireland.

Some of the key points for the quarter are highlighted below:

Key Points

There were 9,604 new cars registered during the quarter, a decrease of 9% on the number of new cars (10,607) registered during the corresponding quarter of 2003.

4% (369) of all new cars registered for the first time were imported from the Republic of Ireland.

Renault was the most popular make of new car accounting for 14% (1,370) of all new cars registered during the quarter.

65% (622) of the 958 heavy goods vehicles registered for the first time in Northern Ireland were previously used vehicles.

There were 18.44 million public bus passenger journeys made during the quarter, resulting in a weekly average of 1.42 million. This is an increase of 3% compared to the weekly average of 1.38 million journeys made during the same quarter of last year. Bus passenger receipts have increased by 11% from Ł1.74 million to Ł1.93 million on a weekly average basis compared to the same period in the previous year.

Compared to the same period in the previous year, the weekly average rail passenger receipts rose by 10% to Ł0.34 million from Ł0.31 million. Rail passenger miles have increased to a weekly average of 2.79 million for the quarter compared to 2.71 million for the corresponding quarter of 2003.

Compared to the corresponding quarter in 2003, the four quarter rolling average pass rate for 'L' driving tests for males remained the same at 52% but for females fell from 43% to 42%, both higher than the equivalent GB pass rates.

207,061 tonnes of petroleum were delivered during the quarter, an increase of 50% on the tonnage delivered during the corresponding quarter of 2003.

Additional Information

Copies of the Road and Rail Transport Statistics Bulletin are available (free of charge) from:

Central Statistics and Research Branch,
Department for Regional Development,
Room 4.02, Clarence Court,
10 - 18 Adelaide Street,
Belfast BT2 8GB.

Telephone 028 9054 0801
E mail address csrb@drdni.gov.uk
Internet http://csrb.drdni.gov.uk

For media queries contact Emma Flynn Davies, 028 9054 0372.

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