Accessibility of tables
The department is currently working to make our tables accessible for our users. The data tables for these statistics are now accessible.
We would welcome any feedback on the accessibility of our tables, please email road traffic statistics.
TRA0101: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/684963fd3a2aa5ba84d1dede/tra0101-miles-by-vehicle-type.ods">Road traffic (vehicle miles) by vehicle type in Great Britain (ODS, 58.6 KB)
TRA0102: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849640f38cd4b88e2c7dab4/tra0102-miles-by-road-class.ods">Motor vehicle traffic (vehicle miles) by road class in Great Britain (ODS, 58.6 KB)
TRA0103: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849642438cd4b88e2c7dab5/tra0103-miles-by-road-class-and-region.ods">Motor vehicle traffic (vehicle miles) by road class, region and country in Great Britain (ODS, 112 KB)
TRA0104: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68496434a970ac461a23d1d4/tra0104-miles-by-vehicle-and-road-type.ods">Road traffic (vehicle miles) by vehicle type and road class in Great Britain (ODS, 65.6 KB)
TRA0106: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849644838cd4b88e2c7dab6/tra0106-miles-by-vehicle-type-and-region.ods">Motor vehicle traffic (vehicle miles) by vehicle type, region and country in Great Britain (ODS, 80.6 KB)
TRA0201: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849646c7cba25f610c7daba/tra0201-km-by-vehicle-type.ods">Road traffic (vehicle kilometres) by vehicle type in Great Britain (ODS, 59.1 KB)
TRA0202: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849647eb575706ea223d1de/tra0202-km-by-road-class.ods">Motor vehicle traffic (vehicle kilometres) by road class in Great Britain (ODS, 58.8 KB)
TRA0203: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849648c3a2aa5ba84d1dedf/tra0203-km-by-road-class-and-region.ods">Motor vehicle traffic (vehicle kilometres) by road class, region and country in Great Britain (ODS, 121 KB)
TRA0204: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849649b3a2aa5ba84d1dee0/tra0204-km-by-vehicle-and-road-type.ods">Road traffic (vehicle kilometres) by vehicle type and road class in Great Britain (ODS, 66.5 KB)
The statistics refer to the volume of road traffic in Wales. Road traffic estimates for Wales are compiled by the Department for Transport on behalf of the Welsh Government. These estimates are based on annual roadside manual road traffic counts carried out across Wales during the year. These roadside counts are combined with automatic traffic count (ATC) data and road lengths to produce overall traffic estimates. Traffic estimates for major roads are based on a census of all such roads whereas traffic estimates for minor roads are estimated by calculating growth rates from a fixed sample of count points on the minor road network. Further details of the methodology are available from the DfT at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-traffic-speeds-and-congestion-statistics-guidance . All surfaced roads (excluding Trunk Roads) are included in the estimates. The categories are: Major roads: Motorways. Dual carriageways designed for fast traffic with access limited to motor vehicles, and with relatively few places for joining or leaving. The only motorway in Wales is the M4. A County roads. All other A roads. Estimates for A roads are also available with sub-categories for urban and rural roads on StatsWales. Urban roads are those within the boundaries of settlements with a population of 10,000 or more, and rural roads are all other non-motorway major roads. Minor roads: B roads. Roads intended to connect different areas, and to feed traffic between A roads and smaller roads on the network. Classified unnumbered. Smaller roads intended to connect together unclassified roads with A and B roads, and often linking a housing estate or a village to the rest of the network. Similar to ‘minor roads’ on an Ordnance Survey map and sometimes known unofficially as C roads. Unclassified. Local roads intended for local traffic. The vast majority of roads fall within this category. The analysis by vehicle type is based on roadside observation where vehicles are classified according to their general appearance. The vehicle types identified are: 1) Pedal cycles: Includes all non-motorised cycles, 2) Motorcycles: Two-wheeled motor vehicles, including mopeds, motor scooters and motorcycle combinations, 3) Cars and taxis: Includes estate cars, all light vans with windows to the rear of the driver's seat, passenger vehicles with 9 seats or fewer, three-wheeled cars, motorised-invalid carriages, Land Rovers, Range Rovers and Jeeps. Cars towing caravans or trailers are counted as one vehicle, 4) Buses and coaches: Includes all public service vehicles and works buses other than vehicles with less than 10 seats, 5) Light vans: All goods vehicles up to 3,500kg gross vehicle weight. This includes all car-based vans and those of the next larger carrying-capacity, such as transit vans. Also included are ambulances, pick-ups, milk floats and pedestrian-controlled motor vehicles. Most of this group are delivery vans of one type or another, 6) Goods vehicles: All goods vehicles over 3,500kg gross vehicle weight. Includes tractors (without trailers), road-rollers, box vans and similar large vans. A two-axle motor tractor unit without trailer is also included, 7) All motor vehicles: All vehicles except pedal cycles. Traffic volume is measured using Vehicle Kilometres (VKM), which are calculated by multiplying the annual average daily flow of traffic by the corresponding length of road. For example, 1 vehicle travelling 1 kilometre a day for a year would be 365 VKM over a year. In this release estimates are presented as billion vehicle kilometres (bvk).
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
The Department for Transport collects traffic data to produce statistics on the level of traffic on roads in Great Britain.
Data are available for each junction to junction link on the major road network (motorways and A roads). Data are also available for the sample of points on the minor road network (B, C and unclassified roads) that are counted each year, and these counts are used to produce estimates of traffic growth on minor roads.
The data are produced for every year and are in three formats: a) the raw manual count data collected by trained enumerators; b) Annual Average Daily Flows (AADFs) for count points on major roads and minor roads; and c) traffic figures for local authorities and regions.
An explanatory note (Road traffic data metadata) is available below. A description of how annual road traffic estimates are produced is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-traffic-statistics-guidance
The statistics refer to the volume of road traffic in Wales. Road traffic estimates for Wales are compiled by the Department for Transport on behalf of the Welsh Government. These estimates are based on annual roadside manual road traffic counts carried out across Wales during the year. These roadside counts are combined with automatic traffic count (ATC) data and road lengths to produce overall traffic estimates. Traffic estimates for major roads are based on a census of all such roads whereas traffic estimates for minor roads are estimated by calculating growth rates from a fixed sample of count points on the minor road network. Further details of the methodology are available from the DfT at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-traffic-speeds-and-congestion-statistics-guidance . All surfaced roads are included in the estimates. The categories are: Major roads: Motorways. Dual carriageways designed for fast traffic with access limited to motor vehicles, and with relatively few places for joining or leaving. The only motorway in Wales is the M4. A Trunk roads. Part of the strategic road network owned by and operated on behalf of Government A County roads. All other A roads. Estimates for A roads are also available with sub-categories for urban and rural roads on StatsWales. Urban roads are those within the boundaries of settlements with a population of 10,000 or more, and rural roads are all other non-motorway major roads. Minor roads: B roads. Roads intended to connect different areas, and to feed traffic between A roads and smaller roads on the network. Classified unnumbered. Smaller roads intended to connect together unclassified roads with A and B roads, and often linking a housing estate or a village to the rest of the network. Similar to ‘minor roads’ on an Ordnance Survey map and sometimes known unofficially as C roads. Unclassified. Local roads intended for local traffic. The vast majority of roads fall within this category. Traffic volume is measured using Vehicle Kilometres (VKM), which are calculated by multiplying the annual average daily flow of traffic by the corresponding length of road. For example, 1 vehicle travelling 1 kilometre a day for a year would be 365 VKM over a year. In this release estimates are presented as billion vehicle kilometres (bvk).
Department for Transport traffic flow data for Sheffield: AADF figures give the number of vehicles that will drive on that stretch of road on an average day of the year. For information on how AADFs are calculated, see the guidance on the Traffic Statistics pages on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/transport-statistics-notes-and-guidance-road-traffic
AADF figures are presented as: Units = vehicles per day.
More metadata details: http://data.dft.gov.uk/gb-traffic-matrix/aadf-majorroads-metadata.pdf
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly by emailing transport.statistics@dft.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards.
These statistics on transport use are published monthly.
For each day, the Department for Transport (DfT) produces statistics on domestic transport:
The associated methodology notes set out information on the data sources and methodology used to generate these headline measures.
From September 2023, these statistics include a second rail usage time series which excludes Elizabeth Line service (and other relevant services that have been replaced by the Elizabeth line) from both the travel week and its equivalent baseline week in 2019. This allows for a more meaningful like-for-like comparison of rail demand across the period because the effects of the Elizabeth Line on rail demand are removed. More information can be found in the methodology document.
The table below provides the reference of regular statistics collections published by DfT on these topics, with their last and upcoming publication dates.
Mode | Publication and link | Latest period covered and next publication |
---|---|---|
Road traffic | Road traffic statistics | Full annual data up to December 2024 was published in June 2025. Quarterly data up to March 2025 was published June 2025. |
Rail usage | The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes a range of statistics including passenger and freight rail performance and usage. Statistics are available at the https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/" class="govuk-link">ORR website. Statistics for rail passenger numbers and crowding on weekdays in major cities in England and Wales are published by DfT. |
ORR’s latest quarterly rail usage statistics, covering January to March 2025, was published in June 2025. DfT’s most recent annual passenger numbers and crowding statistics for 2023 were published in September 2024. |
Bus usage | Bus statistics | The most recent annual publication covered the year ending March 2024. The most recent quarterly publication covered January to March 2025. |
TfL tube and bus usage | Data on buses is covered by the section above. https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/busiest-times-to-travel" class="govuk-link">Station level business data is available. | |
Cycling usage | Walking and cycling statistics, England | 2023 calendar year published in August 2024. |
Cross Modal and journey by purpose | National Travel Survey | 2023 calendar year data published in August 2024. |
Traffic volume is measured using vehicle kilometres, which are calculated by multiplying the annual average daily flow of traffic by the corresponding length of road. For example, 1 vehicle travelling 1 kilometre a day for a year would be 365 vehicle kilometres over a year.
Traffic count figures from the Department for Transport which give the total volume of traffic on stretches of road in Sheffield for the whole year, and are calculated by multiplying the Annual average daily flow (AADF) by the corresponding length of road and by the number of days in the years.
Traffic figures are presented as: Units = thousand vehicle miles
More metadata details: http://data.dft.gov.uk/gb-traffic-matrix/traffic-majorroads-miles-metadata.pdf
In December 2023, Amazon.co.uk recorded ***** million visits, up from the previous months. The traffic peak was due to popular end of year sales events and holiday shopping. Browsers and buyers on Amazon during Black Week Amazon’s UK platform was the buzzing with users not just during Black Friday, but on Cyber Monday according to traffic figures from 2018. While there were more Amazon browsers on Cyber Monday, when it came to actual transactions , Black Friday bore better results with more transactions taking place this day. A lucrative market in the UK Amazon gets special attention from UK consumers on special shopping events such as Prime Day and Black Friday, but the UK has been a lucrative market since the online retailer started its operations there in 2002. In 2018, Amazon reported net sales of about ** billion US dollars in this market. This makes the UK Amazon’s second biggest European market after Germany.
Changes to tables including car mileage data (NTS0901, NTS0904)
Following a user engagement exercise, the presentation of the car mileage estimates has changed for 2023, to include more car types and fuel types (subject to availability of data) and to discontinue providing a private or company car breakdown. These changes have resulted in revisions to the estimates in the backseries. Please see table notes for more details.
Previous versions of these tables (up to 2022) are available.
NTS0901: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66ce0f47face0992fa41f65b/nts0901.ods">Annual mileage of cars by ownership, fuel type and trip purpose: England, 2002 onwards (ODS, 12.8 KB)
NTS0904: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66ce0f5e4e046525fa39cf7e/nts0904.ods">Annual mileage band of cars: England, 2002 onwards (ODS, 14 KB)
NTS0905: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66ce0f6f25c035a11941f655/nts0905.ods">Average car or van occupancy and lone driver rate by trip purpose: England, 2002 onwards (ODS, 18 KB)
NTS0908: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66ce0f89bc00d93a0c7e1f74/nts0908.ods">Where vehicle parked overnight by rural-urban classification of residence: England, 2002 onwards (ODS, 14.7 KB)
National Travel Survey statistics
Email mailto:national.travelsurvey@dft.gov.uk">national.travelsurvey@dft.gov.uk
To hear more about DfT statistical publications as they are released, follow us on X at https://x.com/dftstats" class="govuk-link">DfTstats.
To monitor transport activity on a timelier basis for topical issues relating to transport, the Department for Transport (DfT) has developed updates on the following:
Indicator | Frequency of update | Timing of update | Date first published |
---|---|---|---|
Electric vehicle public charging devices available in the UK | Monthly | Every second Wednesday | 7 December 2021 |
Daily local bus passenger and trip statistics: year ending March 2025 | To be confirmed | To be confirmed | 19 June 2025 |
Practical car driving tests | Monthly | No longer published | 9 November 2022 |
Large goods vehicle vocational testing in Great Britain | Monthly | No longer published | 10 November 2021 |
Road haulier coronavirus testing in Great Britain | Weekly | No longer published | 11 March 2021 |
In special circumstances, the timing of updates might change for some indicators. Where applicable, the date of the next update will be added to the “Timing of update” field.
Some of the issues will be short term in nature, and the relevant updates will cease once the issue is no longer either in operation or of relevance.
Methodology notes on the above statistics are available.
Electric vehicle public charging devices - monthly statistics on the total number of electric vehicle charging devices available in the UK are published since December 2021. Annual electric vehicle charging device statistics are also published by DfT.
Daily local bus passenger and trip statistics - local bus passenger and trip statistics in England outside London, year ending March 2025. Annual and Quarterly bus statistics are also published by DfT.
Practical car driving tests - this series was discontinued in November 2024 with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency assuming responsibility for producing this data in an alternative format on their collection pages.
Large goods vehicles vocational driving tests - this series was discontinued in November 2024 with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency assuming responsibility for producing this data in an alternative format on their collection pages.
Road hauliers testing - this series was discontinued in March 2022. This series presented weekly statistics on the number of lateral flow tests conducted on hauliers, and the positivity rate of those tests, since early March 2021.
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Accessibility of tables
The department is currently working to make our tables accessible for our users. The data tables for these statistics are now accessible.
We would welcome any feedback on the accessibility of our tables, please email road traffic statistics.
TRA0101: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/684963fd3a2aa5ba84d1dede/tra0101-miles-by-vehicle-type.ods">Road traffic (vehicle miles) by vehicle type in Great Britain (ODS, 58.6 KB)
TRA0102: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849640f38cd4b88e2c7dab4/tra0102-miles-by-road-class.ods">Motor vehicle traffic (vehicle miles) by road class in Great Britain (ODS, 58.6 KB)
TRA0103: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849642438cd4b88e2c7dab5/tra0103-miles-by-road-class-and-region.ods">Motor vehicle traffic (vehicle miles) by road class, region and country in Great Britain (ODS, 112 KB)
TRA0104: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68496434a970ac461a23d1d4/tra0104-miles-by-vehicle-and-road-type.ods">Road traffic (vehicle miles) by vehicle type and road class in Great Britain (ODS, 65.6 KB)
TRA0106: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849644838cd4b88e2c7dab6/tra0106-miles-by-vehicle-type-and-region.ods">Motor vehicle traffic (vehicle miles) by vehicle type, region and country in Great Britain (ODS, 80.6 KB)
TRA0201: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849646c7cba25f610c7daba/tra0201-km-by-vehicle-type.ods">Road traffic (vehicle kilometres) by vehicle type in Great Britain (ODS, 59.1 KB)
TRA0202: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849647eb575706ea223d1de/tra0202-km-by-road-class.ods">Motor vehicle traffic (vehicle kilometres) by road class in Great Britain (ODS, 58.8 KB)
TRA0203: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849648c3a2aa5ba84d1dedf/tra0203-km-by-road-class-and-region.ods">Motor vehicle traffic (vehicle kilometres) by road class, region and country in Great Britain (ODS, 121 KB)
TRA0204: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849649b3a2aa5ba84d1dee0/tra0204-km-by-vehicle-and-road-type.ods">Road traffic (vehicle kilometres) by vehicle type and road class in Great Britain (ODS, 66.5 KB)