The National Travel Survey (NTS) is a household survey of residents of England travelling within Great Britain. It is designed to monitor long‑term trends in personal travel and remains the primary source of data on travel behaviour across England.

Results are published annually at a regional level. For the North East, this includes data covering both the North East and Tees Valley Combined Authority areas. The survey provides valuable insight into how, why, when and where people travel, as well as the wider social, economic and behavioural factors influencing travel patterns in the North East.

These insights help us to better understand changes in travel behaviour over time and support evidence‑based decision‑making for transport planning and investment across the region.

In the North East region, people on average made 906 trips per year, a 3% decline from 2023. This is slightly lower than the rest of England excluding London, where people on average made 956 trips per year, travel levels in the North East continue to remain below pre‑Covid levels.

Between 2023 and 2024, active travel declined by 3% as a proportion of total trips (decreased from 936 to 906), while private travel increased by 2% and public transport increased by 1% showing a reversal of the trend seen in 2023, when active travel increased as a share of trips.

Despite these changes, private travel remained the most common form of transport in the North East in 2024, accounting for 61% of all trips per person, followed by active travel (30%) and public transport (9%). The reliance on private travel is particularly evident for journeys over 2 miles, where the proportion of trips made by private modes increases significantly. 

For shorter journeys, active travel continues to dominate. For trips under one mile, active travel accounts for 80% of all trips, highlighting the continued importance of walking, wheeling and cycling for local journeys across the region.

The North East has historically recorded higher rate of active travel, reflecting reliance on walking for short everyday journeys. In 2024, residents made an average of 270 active travel trips per person, a reduction from the 2023 peak but still indicative of a sustained recovery from pandemic‑related disruption. 

Walking continues to dominate active travel in the region. After a prolonged decline from the early 2000s to the mid‑2010s, walking trips per person have rebounded in recent years. In 2024, the North East recorded 258 walking trips per person, underlining the ongoing importance of walkable neighbourhoods and access to local services. Cycling activity remained comparatively low at 11 trips per person, showing little change and remaining slightly below national levels. 

Active travel in the North East is primarily used for short‑distance journeys. Most trips in 2024 were under one mile, with very few longer‑distance trips. This pattern highlights the continued role of active travel in supporting local mobility rather than longer inter‑urban travel, and it reinforces the importance of high‑quality local infrastructure. 

The region also maintained a relatively strong position for active school travel. In 2024, nearly half of all school journeys were made by walking or cycling, aligning with the England excluding London average. Although there is a decline from the unusually high level seen in 2023, it represents a clear improvement compared with the lowest levels recorded during and immediately after the pandemic.

Private travel in the North East averaged 552 trips per person in 2024, unchanged from 2023. Among English regions outside London, the North East still has the lowest rate of private travel trips.

As in previous years, car and van travel dominates private travel. In 2024, North East residents made 346 trips per person as a car/van driver and 199 trips per person as a passenger, with only 7 trips per person made by other private transport. Trip lengths remain concentrated in short-to-medium distances: around 74% of private travel trips are over 2 miles, and of those longer trips, 54% fall between 2 and 10 miles.

Alongside this, car access indicators improved in 2024. The average number of cars/vans per household increased from 1.02 to 1.11, and the share of adults with a full car driving licence rose from 66% to 73%. The distribution of household car availability also shifted positively, with households reporting no car/van decreasing (31% to 24%), and both one-car (41% to 47%) and two-or-more-car households (27% to 29%) increasing.

In 2024, each resident of the North East made approximately 84 trips using public transport, representing about 9% of their total journeys. This was the second highest rate outside London, despite remaining relatively low over time when compared with the pre‑pandemic period. 

Local bus services continue to underpin public transport use in the North East. Residents made an average of 61 local bus trips per person, the highest rate of any English region outside London. By contrast, surface rail use remained low, at 7 trips per person. Trips by taxi or minicab and other public transport modes, including Tyne and Wear Metro, continue to play a supporting role. 

Public transport trips in the North East are typically short to medium in length. Almost half (43%) of all trips were between 2 and 5 miles, with a further 22% between 5 and 10 miles and 15% between 1 and 2 miles. Very short trips (under 1 mile) and long‑distance trips (over 25 miles) together accounted for only a small minority of journeys, highlighting the role of public transport in serving everyday local travel rather than very short or long‑distance trips.

The North East continues to show strong uptake of concessionary travel, with 75% of eligible pensioners holding a concessionary pass (an increase from 73% in 2023), well above the England excluding London average of 66%, suggesting a sustained demand for local bus services among older residents.

Work and school trips have continued to fall over time in the North East. In 2024, Residents made 109 commuting trips on average, and 254 trips in total including education and school escort trips. 

Education related   trips dropped during the COVID years, increased sharply in 2022, and have since reduced but remain higher than before the pandemic.

Trips made for day‑to‑day activities such as shopping, escorting others and personal business made up a large share of travel. North East Residents made 365 trips per person for these purposes in 2024. Shopping was the most common reason.

Leisure related travel accounted for 362 trips per person. The largest share was trips to visit friends, followed by trips for holidays, sport and entertainment, and trips for other purposes including walking. Trips incorporating walking saw a significant rise during the COVID pandemic, and although levels have since decreased, they remain substantially above pre-pandemic figures.

The average commuting distance in the North East increased to 8.2 miles in 2024, up from 6.4 in 2023. Even so, commuting distances in the North East remain shorter than the England excluding London average, as they have been for many years.