Walking, wheeling and cycling take up to 660,000 cars off the road each day in Ireland’s five largest Metropolitan Areas, according to the 2025 Walking and Cycling Index, published in partnership with Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (formerly known as Sustrans) and the National Transport Authority. The report has been launched across the five metropolitan areas by the various local authorities involved in the publications.
Key findings from the Walking and Cycling Index
Key findings from the Walking and Cycling Index 2025 include:
Economic, Health and Environmental Benefits of People who Walk, Wheel or Cycle:
- Walking, wheeling and cycling remove up to 660,000 car trips from the roads each day across the five Metropolitan Areas. These are return, non‑leisure trips made by residents who could otherwise have used a car.
- Active travel delivers €2.99 billion in annual economic benefit across the Metropolitan Areas.
Public Attitudes towards Walking, Wheeling and Cycling:
- More than half of residents want to walk more, and one in three want to cycle and use public transport more.
- Residents in all 5 areas, support investing in sustainable travel over investing in driving. This includes majority support for cycle tracks physically separated from traffic and pedestrians, even where that means less space for motor traffic.
Reports can be downloaded for each region
Reports can be downloaded via the links to each Walking and Cycling Index Report below.
Link to subpages here for
- Dublin Metropolitan Area
- Cork Metropolitan Area
- Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Area
- Galway Metropolitan Area
- Waterford Metropolitan Area
Background Documents
- For a summary of the overall Walking and Cycling Index methodology
- For details on the residents survey
- Sustrans Data Dashboard:
- Sustrans has interactive dashboards available that can be used to explore the data, see:
- https://www.sustrans.org.uk/the-walking-and-cycling-index/walking-and-cycling-index-data-tool
Links back to 2023, 2021 report and 2019 report