According to data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the number of passenger journeys on buses in Dublin during the week that started on 21 November of this year was almost equal to the number taken during the same week in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic began, with the same trend seen in the previous three weeks.
Meanwhile, outside of Dublin that week, the number of bus journeys during the week that started on 21 November of this year was 13% higher than the figure recorded for the same week in 2019, according to the CSO.
Luas And Rail Journeys
In a statement published on its website, the CSO noted that the number of rail journeys during the week that started on 21 November 2022 was 810,472, which compares to 851,347 during the week that started on 2 March 2020 – just before the pandemic began – while the number of Luas journeys in the week that started on 21 November of this year was almost equal to the level recorded during the same week in 2019, and 69% higher than during the same week last year, as well as 325% higher than the number recorded for the same week in 2020.
The CSO noted that no comparable rail data is available for 2019, and that rail data includes passenger journeys on InterCity and DART services.
Airport Passenger Data
Additionally, the statement published on CSO.ie noted that Covid-19 restrictions led to a sharp decrease in the number of passengers who were handled by Irish airports.
The number of passengers in Dublin Airport in November of this year was 1.5 times that of November of last year, but 98% of the level seen in the same month in 2019, with 2,409,802 passengers being handled by Dublin, Cork and Knock Airports last month, compared to 2,467,142 in November 2019, according to the statement published on CSO.ie.
The same statement also noted that Ireland West Airport Knock was closed from April to June 2020 and from February to May 2021, Cork Airport was closed in October 2021, and Kerry and Shannon data was not available at the time of the publication of the statement.
