14/01/2010

NI Car Registrations Rising

The number of new and used cars registered in Northern Ireland for the first time during the past few months has increased.

Aided by the extended Government 'scrappage' scheme - which encourages owners of older cars to scrap the vehicles and buy new a new car - figures have risen by 14% since the corresponding quarter in NI last year.

This is the first quarter since October to December 2007 to show an increase when compared to the corresponding time period in the previous year.

The figures are published in the latest edition of the NI Road and Rail Transport Statistics.

The statistics for July to September 2009 has been produced by the Central Statistics and Research Branch (CSRB) of the Department for Regional Development and contains information on vehicle registrations, use of public transport, deliveries of petrol and diesel for use in Northern Ireland and driver and vehicle tests.

Other key points for the quarter include news that there were 23,548 new and used cars registered for the first time during the quarter and that 64% (15,063) were new cars.

Ford was the most popular make of new car during July to September 2009, accounting for 12% (1,797) of all new cars registered.

The second and third most popular makes of new car were Vauxhall (1,342) and Volkswagen (1,296), respectively.

Of the 830 heavy goods vehicles registered for the first time in Northern Ireland, 69% (573) were previously used vehicles.

On public transport, there was a weekly average of 1.02million public bus passenger journeys made during the quarter, a decrease of 3% from 1.05million in the corresponding quarter of 2008.

During the same time period, weekly average bus passenger receipts increased by 3% to £1.77million from £1.72million.

The weekly average rail passenger journeys are the same as in the corresponding quarter of 2008 (0.19 million).

During the same time period, weekly average rail passenger receipts increased by 8% to £0.57million from £0.53million.

Other details included in the new data includes news on driving tests, and showed that the pass rate for car 'L driver' tests was 53% for males and 44% for females in Northern Ireland, compared to 49% for males and 42% for females in Great Britain.

The publication is available on the CSRB website at: www.drdni.gov.uk/index/statistics/stats-catagories/ni_road_and_rail_transport_statistics.htm

(BMcC)

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