Road trip: Traffic returns to pre-pandemic levels as restrictions ease
After stay-at-home orders kept roads clear, traffic during weekdays is finally matching pre-pandemic levels, according to data by the Department for Transport today.
Traffic on Friday soared 104 per cent past the equivalent weekday in February 2020, largely helped by the Bank Holiday weekend, for the first time since the lockdowns began.
Vehicles hitting the roads had slumped to 35 per cent of typical weekday levels in early April 2020, when restrictions were first imposed.
Although road traffic seems to be on an uplift as restrictions ease, travel by national rail is currently just 45 per cent compared with pre-lockdown levels and bus passengers are at 64 per cent across the UK.
Working from home has shaped the rate people are travelling, particularly in the capital, as tube stations have remained eerily quiet in comparison to their former tightly packed glory.
In London, tube travel is at 47 per cent the level it used to be, while buses are at 65 per cent.
“We are seeing a change in commuting patterns. With many office workers still working from home, other people who would normally take public transport are now driving to work instead,” managing director of breathalyser firm AlcoSense, Hunter Abbott, said.