National Household Travel Survey
Why in News?
India’s first-ever National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) is in the news because the National Statistics Office (NSO) released its key findings on 5 October 2026, revealing how Indians commute for work and education, what they spend, and which transport modes dominate.
Key Information
- Conducting Authority: Published by the NSO under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), covering 14,274 villages, 10,377 urban blocks, 4,92,023 households, and 20,34,371 individuals.
- Definitions & Objectives: Defined "travel" as regular trips of 1 km or more (excluding air travel and short overnight trips). It provides verified baseline data to aid regional infrastructure and transport planning.
- Transport Modes: Motorized two-wheelers dominate worker commutes (42.6% nationally, rising to 52.3% in urban areas). Personal cars and mass rail networks account for minimal shares (3% and 2.1% nationally, respectively) due to connectivity challenges.
- Commute Times: The average commute is 25 minutes, with 83.4% arriving in under 30 minutes.
- Expenses: The national average monthly commuting expenditure is ₹785 per worker, creating a stark rural-urban divide (₹612 for rural vs. ₹1,044 for urban workers). Low-wage workers face severe economic strain, spending over 12% of household income on transit.
- Participation & Modes: High travel participation is seen in the 15–29 age group (79.1% rural, 73.3% urban). Walking leads at 37%, followed by public buses (29.5%) and bicycles (15.8%). Most students (87.6%) reach school in under 30 minutes at an average cost of ₹443.
- Workforce & Transit Divide: More men (61.9%) travel for work than women (41.9%). Women are twice as likely to walk or use public transport (67% vs. 33% for men), with regional variations like high walking rates in Madhya Pradesh and high bus usage in Kerala.
- Purpose & Modes: Roughly 70% of long-distance overnight trips are driven by social, family, and religious obligations. Buses carry 55.8% of these journeys, followed by railways (17.7%) and personal cars (15.1%), with urban households relying more on trains than rural households.
