People in west of NI travel 6k miles per year

According to the newly-published Travel Survey for Northern Ireland (TSNI) In-depth Report 2007-2009 those living in the Belfast area travelled an average of 3,769 miles per year, around 40 per cent less than the 6,317 miles and 6,457 miles for those living in the East and West of Northern Ireland respectively.

Whilst people in the West - including Londonderry, Limavady and Strabane - travelled more on average than their fellow citizens elsewhere, fewer walked, cycled or travelled by train: the car was the favoured choice of transport amongst those surveyed here.

There may have been an increase of 30 per cent in the average distance walked by Belfast residents from 186 miles per person per year in 1999-2001 up to 242 in 2007-2009.

But there has been no real change in the average distance walked by people living in the West with folk here walking just 122 miles per year - less than a third of a mile per day on average.

According to the survey our use of public transport is also lower than anywhere in Northern Ireland with six per cent of the distance travelled by Western respondents in 2006-7 was on buses and trains compared to 11 per cent in Belfast and eight per cent in the East.

People in the West also cycled just 11 miles (below the NI average of 20), motorcycled just 5 miles (below the NI average of 15), and railed it just 27 miles (below the NI average of 69 miles) in 2007-9.

In contrast people here drove 3,175 miles (above the 3,143 NI average), were car passengers for 1,983 miles (above the 1,697 NI average), were Ulsterbus passengers for 287 miles (above the 246 NI average) and were taxi passengers for 69 miles (above the 65 NI average).

Seventy-seven per cent of households in the West had access to one or more cars in 2007-2009.

Thirty-four per cent of households in the West had access to two or more cars during the period in comparison to 37 per cent in the East and just 19 per cent in Belfast.

Equally, Belfast residents travelled further on foot (6 per cent) compared to Eastern and Western residents (both 2 per cent).

When it came to travelling to work specifically there was no real change in the number of people in the West of Northern Ireland travelling by car or van (86 per cent).

Two per cent of Western respondents said they bused it to work, 10 per cent said they walked, and two per cent said they used an alternative method.

The TSNI is based on the National Travel Survey (NTS), as used in Great Britain. It began in Northern Ireland as a continuous survey in 1999 (after a pilot survey).

It is conducted over a calendar year (from January to December). The first results were published in 2003 for the period 1999-2001. This latest report covers the 2007-2009 time period.