318. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Transport the way in which his Department measures the impact of active travel investment and infrastructure on modal shift. [19779/26]

As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to Active Travel. Funding is administered through the National Transport Authority (NTA), who, in partnership with local authorities, have responsibility for the selection and development of specific projects in each local authority area.

Investment in active travel has delivered approximately 1,100km of new walking and cycling infrastructure since 2020, as well as hundreds of junction upgrades and new pedestrian crossings. In 2025 alone, investment resulted in nearly 100km of new walking infrastructure, 70km of cycling infrastructure, 222 new pedestrian crossings, over 300 junction upgrades and 2 active travel bridges.

In terms of modal shift, there are several sources of data for the number of people cycling and walking rather than taking a car or public transport; however these data sources mainly measure transport mode share rather than changing transport habits which would demonstrate modal shift from car or public transport use to active travel modes and the impact that improvements in active travel investment are having on modal shift.

The primary source of national data available is through the National Household Travel Survey which was previously carried out by the NTA every four years, but moved to an annual basis since 2022. This Survey provides a comprehensive picture of daily travel habits of Irish residents. Latest figures from the 2024 NHTS shows that walking and cycling have a 20% mode share, compared to 74% for driving

Other data sources look at more specific areas, such as the Walking and Cycling Index (WACI). This is an independent survey based on local walking and cycling data and modelling and is the largest assessment of walking and cycling in Ireland's five cities. The WACI is produced every 2 years by the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust in partnership with the NTA. The first report was carried out in Dublin only in 2021, and was widened to include Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford in 2023. The 2025 reports were published by the NTA earlier this month and are available online. There is detailed information on active travel participation and perception contained within the reports; a key finding is that walking, wheeling and cycling removed up to 660,000 car trips from the roads each day across the five metropolitan areas.

Lastly, the NTA's annual Canal Cordon report is an annual study tracking how people commute into Dublin city centre. The following table outlines the results of this study for the years 2018-2023 inclusive by active travel, bus and car; other modes including taxi, goods vehicles, motorbike are not included below: