Background
The NTA commissioned shopper surveys in five cities across Ireland between 2022-2025. The timelines for each of these surveys were Dublin and Cork in 2022, Limerick in 2024, Waterford and Galway in 2025. The core objective of each study was to investigate how much money, users of different transport methods were spending in the city centres.
This publication highlights how sustainable transport and active travel plays a central role in supporting city centre economies.
These latest surveys found that in Galway, 67% of people travel into the city’s retail core arrived by bus, rail, walking or cycling.
This newly published report for Galway (as well as Waterford) means that across all 5 City Shopper Surveys, the findings show that most people access the retail core in our city centres using sustainable transport modes.
When asked about their main mode of transport when accessing the city’s retail core,
- 40% of people in Galway reported travelling by bus,
- 4% by rail, and
- 23% using active travel (walking and cycling),
- while 30% travelled by car.
This publication highlights how sustainable transport and active travel plays a central role in supporting city centre economies.
These latest surveys found that in Waterford, 57% of people travel into the city’s retail core arrived by bus, rail, walking or cycling.
This newly published report for Waterford (as well as Galway) means that across all 5 City Shopper Surveys, the findings show that most people access the retail core in our city centres using sustainable transport modes.
When asked about their main mode of transport when accessing the city’s retail core,
- 31% of people in Waterford reported travelling by bus,
- 1% by rail,
- 25% using active travel (walking and cycling),
- while 40% travelled by car.
NTA Waterford city centre Shopper Survey
This page includes the following Shopper Survey reports
- Dublin City Centre Shopper Survey
- Summer 2022, Quantitative survey
The core objective of this research was to investigate how much money users of different transport methods are spending in Dublin city centre (and other cities)
The research also aimed to ascertain the purpose of visits, length of stay and frequency of visits by mode of transport into the city centres.
Across all 5 City Shopper Surveys, the findings show that most people access the retail core in our city centres using sustainable transport modes.
When asked about their main mode of transport when accessing the city’s retail core,
- 40% of people reported travelling by bus,
- 13% by rail
- 12% by Luas
- 18% using active travel (walking and cycling),
- while17% travelled by car including 1% taxi)
This page includes the following Shopper Survey reports
- Cork City Centre Shopper Survey
- Summer 2022, Quantitative survey
The survey found 64% of adults in Cork used sustainable transport modes to access the city’s retail core, with only 36% of people using their cars.
The core objective of this research was to investigate how much money users of different transport methods are spending in Cork city centre (and other cities)
The research also aimed to ascertain the purpose of visits, length of stay and frequency of visits by mode of transport into the city centres.
Across all 5 City Shopper Surveys, the findings show that most people access the retail core in our city centres using sustainable transport modes.
When asked about their main mode of transport when accessing the city’s retail core,
- 50-56% of people reported travelling by bus,
- 2% by rail
- 12% using active travel (walking and cycling),
- while 30-34% travelled by car including 1% taxi
This page includes the following Shopper Survey reports
- Limerick City Centre Shopper Survey
- NTA Limerick City Centre Shopper Survey 2024
The report covers
- Research Objectives and Methodology
- Reasons for Visiting Limerick City Centre
- Mode of Transport used
- Length of Visit in Limerick City Centre
- Anticipated Spend in Limerick City Centre
- Summary of Results
Top 3 Findings- Limerick City Centre Shopper Survey :
- 36% visited Limerick City Centre by bus.
- €58.62 is the average spend among bus users.
- Bus users account for 32% of the total spend.
The survey found 61% of adults used sustainable transport to get to and from Limerick City, with only 39% of people using their cars.
The core objective of this research was to investigate how much money users of different transport methods are spending in Limerick city centre (and other cities)
The research also aimed to ascertain the purpose of visits, length of stay and frequency of visits by mode of transport into the city centres.
Across all 5 City Shopper Surveys, the findings show that most people access the retail core in our city centres using sustainable transport modes.
When asked about their main mode of transport when accessing the city’s retail core,
- 36% of people reported travelling by bus,
- 2% by rail
- 23% using active travel (walking and cycling),
- while 39% travelled by car (including 2% taxi)
Survey Goals
- Understand the main purpose of visit to the city centre.
- Assess the mode of transport used to get to the city centre and how sustainable they are.
Executive Summary
Results of these shopper surveys indicate that sustainable modes of transport bring a strong share of spend to city centres of all five cities especially in Dublin. Those who visited the city centre using sustainable modes accounted for 74% of the total spend of the visitors in Dublin, 52% in Cork, 49% in Galway and Limerick respectively and 41% in Waterford. The share of spend of visitors using sustainable transport is higher than those using public transport across all cities.
The economic contributions of prioritising sustainable transport and high‑quality public realm improvements in Ireland’s cities to enhance city centre vitality.
The NTA’s Shopper Surveys provide robust evidence to inform transport planning and investment decisions and highlight the economic importance of prioritising sustainable transport and high‑quality public realm improvements in Ireland’s cities.
These results build on earlier NTA Shopper Surveys from Dublin and Cork in 2022, and Limerick in 2024, enabling the publication of a 5 City Shopper Report – showing:
Across all five Irish cities, most people accessed city centres using sustainable modes: Dublin 83%, Cork 64%, Limerick 60%, Galway 67% and Waterford 57%.
In four of the five cities, the share of intended spend generated by people arriving by sustainable transport exceeded that of those arriving by car:
- 74% versus 24% in Dublin;
- 52% versus 43% in Cork;
- 49% versus 46% in Limerick; and
- 49% versus 47% in Galway.
