A post introducing the new Wales National Travel Survey and its preliminary 6 month headline results, by the Statistics Team, Transport for Wales.

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Cymraeg.

The publication of preliminary data from the Wales National Travel Survey (Transport for Wales) is an important step in strengthening the evidence base on how people travel in Wales. It provides, for the first time in over a decade, a representative national picture of travel attitudes and behaviour of the population of Wales.

Wales had previously been included in the Department for Transport’s National Travel Survey until 2012. Since then, there has been no dedicated travel survey in Wales, leading to a growing evidence gap at a time when transport policy has continued to evolve.

Without a consistent source of data for Wales, it has been difficult to build a clear picture of how people travel and how this is changing over time. This limits our ability to assess whether new transport policies and interventions are having a positive effect on how people travel in Wales.

The Wales National Travel Survey

The Wales National Travel Survey has been developed to address this evidence gap. The data collected will help Welsh Government, Transport for Wales and other interested stakeholders to:

• understand current travel patterns
• identify differences between groups and areas within Wales
• track changes over time

This will enable more evidence-based policy making, better informed decision making and more targeted transport interventions.

The main purpose of the survey is to provide ongoing, consistent and robust data on how people in Wales travel, and their attitudes to different transport modes. Alongside questions on travel habits and attitudes, the survey includes a two day retrospective travel diary, capturing how, why, when and where people travel.

The survey has been designed to be representative of Wales at a regional level, and provides a new baseline that can support both immediate insight and longer term tracking of travel behaviour.

The survey has been developed collaboratively between Welsh Government and Transport for Wales in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics (UK Statistics Authority). This development was supported by the National Centre for Social Research, who are delivering the survey on behalf of Transport for Wales.

Preliminary findings

In April 2026, Transport for Wales published preliminary findings from the survey. These results cover the first six months of data collection (March to August 2025), and the data has been published as Official Statistics in Development.

Findings from the six-month data

• 73.6% of journeys were undertaken by car (either as a driver or a passenger).
• 25.2% of journeys were undertaken by sustainable modes of transport (walking, wheeling, cycling, bus and train).
• 10.8% of all journeys were multimodal, where two or more modes of travel were used.
• Individuals undertook an average of 629 journeys per year, travelling an average of 10,434km.
• Overall journey satisfaction across different transport modes ranged from 65.7% for those who cycled to 88.7% who used a taxi.
• Satisfaction with safety across different transport modes ranged from 59.1% for those who cycled to 91.3% who used a taxi.

These results provide a clear starting point for understanding how people currently travel and a new baseline for Wales after a long period without comparable data.

What comes next

In autumn 2026, Transport for Wales will publish revised results using data from the full 2025/26 survey year. This will provide a more complete, detailed picture of travel behaviour and attitudes across Wales, and finalise the first full set of results from the survey.

Data collection for the 2026/27 survey year has already begun. As further data is collected, we will be able to track changes in travel attitudes and behaviour over time. This will give us a better understanding of how patterns vary across different demographic groups and geographic areas, improving our ability to assess progress and evaluate the impact of transport policy and interventions.

The Wales National Travel Survey will be formally assessed for Official Statistics Accreditation by the Office for Statistics Regulation.