UK’s weekend car use hits all-time high, but we’re still driving less in the week
DfT data shows weekend car usage is now up 1.9 per cent year-to-date versus the pre-pandemic high in 2019
Weekend car usage in Britain has finally risen above pre-pandemic levels. More than five years on from the Covid-19 lockdowns, which saw drivers being told to stay at home and car usage dropping by over a quarter, car traffic on Saturday and Sunday is now above the 2019 baseline, although it remains a couple of percentage points behind for the remainder of the week.
Department for Transport ‘Domestic Transport Usage by Mode’ data shows that while motor vehicle usage has, since 2024, risen by 3.2 per cent compared with pre-pandemic levels, this has mainly been driven by a rise in usage of commercial vehicles.
So far in 2026, light commercial vehicle (LCV) usage is up 24.3 per cent compared to 2019, as opposed to being down 2.2 per cent for cars. Weekend usage for cars, on the other hand, is now up almost two per cent year-to-date, compared with 2019.
So why, almost half a decade later, are we still below pre-pandemic levels of car usage, especially given there’s now over one-and-a-half million more cars on UK roads than the 35 million registered in 2019?
Well, a lot of this can be attributed to changing habits; the pandemic encouraged many people to work from home, but as the world began to open up again, hybrid working meant many people didn’t commute as often as they did prior to 2019/2020. Another factor to consider is the high price of petrol and diesel, which, according to insurance firm Tempcover, has forced almost half of drivers (44 per cent) to drive less as a result, with most cutting down on what they deem ‘non-essential’ journeys.
Overall road usage by all vehicles in the UK surpassed pre-pandemic levels in 2025. 342.6 billion miles were covered in total last year versus 338.6 billion in 2019 but much of that bounceback can be attributed to our obsession with online shopping and delivery services. 28 per cent of UK retail expenditure in September 2026 was online, as opposed to 18 per cent in the same period in 2018. All of these items require vans and trucks to deliver them, increasing the usage of these types of vehicle.
The increased presence of modes of transport other than cars has meant little impact in terms of the overall level of traffic on the road. Bus use is still to reach pre-pandemic levels, and is currently down 16 per cent.
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