More Offalians spending longer in cars going to work

More Offaly people are spending longer in cars as they commute greater distances to work, according to analysis of the most recent Census figure.

Almost three in every four working commuters in Offaly commute by car, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said this week.

In April 2016, some 20,520 people living and working in Offaly (72.8%) travelled to work by car, compared to 65.6% of commuters nationally.

Just 2.6% of working commuters in Offaly used public transport. A further 1.5% cycled, while 7.4% walked.

The figures were published in the Census 2016 Profile 6 report, ‘Commuting in Ireland’.

Commuters in Offaly had an average travel time of 28.9 minutes, compared to 27.1 minutes in 2011.

Almost one in three Offaly commuters (29.5%) were travelling for less than 15 minutes, compared to 32.0% in Census 2011.

In April 2016, 14.02% of commuters in the county spent an hour or more travelling compared to 12.1% in 2011, while 5.6% had a commute of over 90 minutes, as against 4.6% five years previously.

There were 15,143 Offaly residents working in the county, while 4,639 people commuted into the county for work. A further 8,682 people commuted to work outside the county, giving a net loss of 4,043 in the working population.




Among primary school children, 62.5% travelled to school by car, while 16.2% (1,576) walked.
The percentage travelling by bus fell to 15.0% from 17.3% in 2011, while 1.0% of students cycled to school. The number of secondary school children walking to school accounted for 19.3% of secondary students, while 47.0% went to school by car, compared to 46.0% in 2011. Three in 10 (29.6%) travelled by bus, while 0.7% cycled to school.