Greater Manchester Travel Diary Survey

The Greater Manchester Travel Diary Survey (TRADS) collects transport and travel information from all residents of 2,000 households per year, gathering data regarding all trips made by each resident 5 years of age or older in a 24-hour period.

The survey sample is designed so that each GM district is represented proportionately, based upon the demographics of the resident population. The survey programme covers the duration of a full year, with surveys in-field every day.

Data is collected on about 10,000 trips, made by 4,500 residents of 2,000 GM households each year. The information gathered includes trip origins and destinations, travel times, transport modes used and journey purpose.

The information is used primarily by TfGM for the purpose of developing and monitoring transport policy, strategy, schemes and interventions.

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Travel Diary Survey 2023 - Summary

The latest findings are available in our TRADS 2023 Summary Report.

Purpose of the summary report

This summary report provides a picture of the travel behaviour of Greater Manchester (GM) residents in 2023. It does not cover all travel in GM as it does not include the travel of non-residents. Some recent trends are presented to help place the 2023 data in context.

This document does not consider what policy interventions are needed to achieve the 2040 Right Mix - our vision to improve our transport system so that we can reduce car use to no more than 50% of daily trips, with the remaining 50% made by public transport, walking and cycling, while ensuring there is no increase in overall motor-vehicle traffic in GM.

The main dataset underpinning this document is the Greater Manchester Travel Diary Survey (TRADS). TRADS provides a comprehensive picture of the travel of GM residents but has some limitations. For example, the nature of TRADS means that it is not suited to exploring seasonal trends. We intend to publish a more comprehensive ‘Travel in GM’ during 2025 that will utilise additional datasets to those referred to in this document.

More information about TRADS is provided in the report's Appendix.

Key highlights from the 2023 report

How many trips did GM residents make?

There were 5.6 million trips by GM residents on a typical day, 2% below pre-pandemic levels.
Nearly three-in-ten GM residents did not travel on a typical day.
GM residents travelled 34 million kilometres on a typical day, which was similar to pre-pandemic levels. This indicates that while residents made fewer trips in 2023 than pre-pandemic, the trips they did make were slightly longer on average.

How did GM residents travel?

Car was the dominant method of travel, accounting for nearly 60% of all trips by GM residents, and over three-quarters of the distance travelled. Walking accounted for 31% of the trips by GM residents, but only 4% of the distance. Public transport accounted for 6% of the trips, and 15% of the distance. The car share of total distance travelled by GM residents (76%) was in line with pre-pandemic levels (77%).
The 16% of car trips that were 1km or less equated to about 185 million annual car journeys by GM residents. These could have been walked in around 15 minutes or cycled in around 4 minutes.
City-to-City car trips accounted for just 5% of all car trips made by GM residents, but 40% of the total distance travelled by GM residents in cars.
A small proportion of frequent users generated most trips across all types of public transport. In the case of bus, 77% of trips were made by just 11% of GM residents (those who used the bus at least three or four days a week).
Less affluent residents were more likely to travel by bus, taxi, or minicab.

Why did GM residents travel?

Shopping (23%), Commuting or business (18%), and Education - including escort - (15%) were the three most common trip purposes.
Collectively, ‘commuting or business’ and ’other’ (eg visiting friends, personal business) accounted for 70% of the total distance travelled by GM residents.
Commuting and business trips’ share of the total distance travelled was similar to what it was in 2017-19.
Shopping trips’ share of the total distance travelled was 9% which was lower than the 12% it was in 2017-19.

When did GM residents travel?

GM residents started nearly nine-in-ten of their trips (88%) in the 12 hours between 7am and 6.59pm, while 7% of their trips started between 7pm and 9.59pm. Only 9% of trips started between 8pm and 7am, of which 65% were by private vehicle (compared to 60% outside of these hours).
The peak periods for trip making were 8am-8.59am and 3pm-3.59pm, accounting for over a fifth of all trips by GM residents. During these hours, 48% of trips were for education.
Around three-in-ten trips by GM residents in the periods 7am-8.59am, and 5pm-6.59pm were to/from work. Over half of commuting trips were made outside these times.

Car availability in GM

Private car keeping is high in GM and has been increasing. At the start of 2024, over 1.1m licensed cars were being kept privately in GM, which equated to roughly one car per two residents aged 17 or over.
25% of households had no access to a car, rising to 50% in the least affluent GM households. The least affluent households were twenty-five-times more likely to have no access to a car than the most affluent households.
Residents in households with no cars were eight times more likely to use a bus for their journeys than residents in households with at least one car per adult.
Residents with no cars in their households made 86% of their trips by active travel or public transport. In households with fewer cars than adults, 37% of trips were by active travel or public transport. In households with at least one car per adult, 26% of trips were by active travel or public transport.
Between 2011 and 2021, the number of registered private cars in Greater Manchester grew by 13%, exceeding the 7% growth in the GM population.

Further information

TRADS 2023 district summaries.

TRADS 2022 district summaries.

For more information regarding TRADS or for further analysis, please contact mick.edwardson@tfgm.com.

Greater Manchester Travel Diary Survey

Travel Diary Survey 2023 - Summary

Purpose of the summary report

Key highlights from the 2023 report

Further information

Documents