Publication of Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey 2022 Travel to and from School Factsheet

The Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey (YPBAS) 2022 Travel to/from School Factsheet is now available.

The factsheet, produced by the Analysis, Statistics and Research Branch (ASRB) of the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), contains information from young people aged 11-16 about; how far they live from their school, what makes them feel unsafe when travelling to/from school and how they would like to travel to/from school. 

The publication is available on the ASRB website.

Key Points:

Travel to and from school:

• Just under half (45%) of all young people (aged 11-16) travel to school by bus and 49% travel home by bus. Over a third (36%) travel to school by car, and a quarter (25%) travel home by car.
• A higher proportion (23%) of young people walk home from school, than walk to school (16%).
• Over half of young people (58%) live less than 3km from school.
• A fifth (20%) of young people said they would like to walk to and from school.
• A further 5% said they would like to cycle.
• Almost a third (31%) said they would like to travel to and from school by bus. 
• The majority of children (96%) feel safe when travelling to and from school.
• The main factors that would encourage young people to walk or cycle to school are: living closer to school, better weather, not having things to carry, cycle lane on my route, someone else to walk with.
• Of those children who travel to school by car, over two thirds (68%) travel with siblings and/or friends.

Notes to editors: 

1. This release presents key findings from the eighth round of the Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey (YPBAS), carried out between September 2022 and March 2023. These results are based on data which has been weighted by year group, gender, and religion in order to reflect the composition of the Northern Ireland post‐primary population. A total of 3,726 pupils from 74 schools answered questions on Travel to/from school.
2. This is an Official Statistics publication and therefore follows the Code of Practice for Statistics.  You can find further information about the Code of Practice at: Statistics Authority.
3. For more information relating to this publication, including additional analysis, breakdowns of data, or alternative formats please contact:

• Telephone (Press enquiries): 028 9054 0007
• Telephone (Public enquiries): 028 9054 0804
• E-mail: asrb@nisra.gov.uk
• Website: DfI Statistics and Research

4. All media queries should be directed to the Department for Infrastructure Press Office at: press.office@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk
5. Follow the Department on Twitter @deptinfra on Facebook  @DepartmentforInfrastructure and on LinkedIn at DfILinkedIn
6. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.

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