Rail travel surges 19% as NI public transport use passes pre-pandemic levels

Public transport use in Northern Ireland has climbed above pre-pandemic levels for the first time, driven by a sharp increase in rail passengers.

New official statistics published by the Department for Infrastructure show that 84 million passenger journeys were made on Translink services during 2025/26.

That was up 3.6% from 81.1 million journeys the previous year and, significantly, exceeded the 83.4 million journeys recorded in 2019/20 before the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Rail journeys jump by almost a fifth

The biggest increase was recorded on Northern Ireland’s rail network.

There were 15.9 million rail passenger journeys during 2025/26, up from 13.3 million the previous year — an increase of 19.2%.

Rail use has not simply recovered from the pandemic. Passenger numbers were 4.9% higher than in 2019/20, when 15.1 million rail journeys were recorded. 

The figures represent a significant turnaround from the previous year. In 2024/25, rail passenger numbers had stood 12% below their pre-pandemic level. 

Bus travel remains slightly below 2019/20

Bus travel saw much more modest growth.

A total of 68.1 million bus passenger journeys were recorded during 2025/26, an increase of 0.5% from 67.8 million the previous year.

However, bus passenger numbers remain fractionally below their pre-pandemic level, with the latest total around 0.2% lower than the 68.3 million journeys recorded in 2019/20. 

The figures mean that the overall recovery in public transport use has been largely driven by the growth in rail travel.

Almost one in five buses now zero-emission

The statistics also provide a snapshot of Translink’s fleet.

At the end of March 2026, Translink operated 1,416 buses, including 1,078 Ulsterbuses, 304 Metro buses and 34 Gliders.

Around 17.4% of the bus fleet was made up of zero-emission vehicles, compared with 15% a year earlier.

The railway fleet comprised 164 carriages with an average age of 20 years. 

More than 4,300 staff employed by Translink

Translink employed the equivalent of 4,324 full-time staff during 2025/26.

Of those, 3,040 were employed in connection with bus services and 1,284 with rail services.

The Public Transport Statistics Northern Ireland report is produced annually by the Department for Infrastructure’s Analysis, Statistics and Research Branch using information from Translink’s administrative systems.