Indians prefer two-wheelers, but overnight buses and trains dominate: NSO survey

New Delhi: Indians rely heavily on private two-wheelers to commute to work, while longer night journeys are dominated by buses and trains, according to the first-ever pan-India National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Monday.

Two-wheelers accounted for 42.6% of workers traveling to fixed workplaces, making them the single largest mode of regular work travel. On the other hand, buses made up 55.8% of household night trips, and intercity rail another 17.7%, i.e. a total of 73.5% of these trips.

The survey, conducted between July 2025 and June 2026, provides a nationwide picture of how, why and how often Indians travel. It is intended to provide data for the planning of transport infrastructure, public transport routes and service planning.

The survey covered 14,274 villages and 10,377 city blocks and collected information from 492,023 households and 2.03 million people across the country. It is the first specialized national survey that comprehensively captures household travel behaviour, including methods, purposes, frequency, duration and expenditure.

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The National Bureau of Statistics defined the road for the survey as a road over a distance of at least one kilometer. Trips shorter than one kilometer were excluded.

Longer trips

Public transport is more important when Indians travel overnight. Buses accounted for 55.8% of household night trips and intercity rail for 17.7%. Passenger cars accounted for 15.1% and two-wheelers for 8.8%.

Rail use was significantly higher in urban households. About 22.7% of overnight trips by urban households were made by rail, compared to 14% among rural households, highlighting the continued importance of rail for longer-distance mobility from cities.

Overnight travel also remains largely driven by social and religious demands rather than tourism. Social, communication and religious activities accounted for 70.2% of overnight trips in households, with the proportion broadly similar in rural and urban India.

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Travel related to tourism, including culture, leisure, sport and tourism, accounted for 7.4% of day trips, rising to 9.3% in urban areas. Another 6.5% was for self-service and maintenance trips.

Everyday mobility

Patterns vary widely according to purpose. Among students traveling to educational institutions, walking was the most common mode of travel, accounting for 37% of trips, followed by buses at 29.5% and bicycles at 15.8%.

The survey found that 66.4% of students aged six and over traveled more than one kilometer per day to attend their educational institution. The proportion was 65.6% in rural areas and 68.1% in urban areas.

Young people aged 15-29 had the highest regular participation in education-related travel. In this age group, 79.1% of rural students and 73.3% of urban students made daily trips to educational institutions.

Travel times were relatively short for most students and workers. About 87.6% of students reached their educational institutions within 30 minutes, while 83.4% of workers reached their fixed workplaces in less than 30 minutes.

Still, commuting represents a recurring expenditure for households, especially in cities. The average monthly expenditure on travel to a fixed workplace was ₹785 per worker, but this figure was considerably higher in urban areas ₹1,044 compared to ₹612 in rural areas.

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Students spent on average ₹443 monthly commuting to educational institutions. City students spent ₹617, against ₹361 for rural students.

The survey also shows a gender gap in work-related travel spending. Male workers spent an average of ₹835 per month commuting to fixed workplaces compared to ₹533 for female workers.

For other day trips not related to education or employment, two-wheeler remained the most common mode of transport at 32.2%, followed by walking at 24.9%, autorickshaws at 18.9%, bicycles at 12.6% and buses at 8.5%.

The government said the NHTS will help identify gaps in existing transport systems, assess accessibility, optimize routes and improve frequency and timetables. The data is also expected to support regional transport planning and infrastructure investment by providing a more detailed understanding of where people travel, when they travel and why they travel.