Context: First-ever National Household Travel Survey released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), covering household travel patterns; conducted July 2025–June 2026.
Overnight travel: Bus 55.8% (largest) | Rail 17.7% | Car 15.1% | Two-wheelers 8.8%. Bus + rail = 73.5%. Social/communication/religious purposes: 70.2%; culture/leisure/sports/tourism: 7.4%. Rail use: Urban 22.7% vs Rural ~14%.
Daily work commute: Two-wheelers 42.6% (Urban 52.3%; Rural 37.1%) | Bus 6.7% | Rail + metro/monorail/tram 2.1%. Urban mass-transit share: Maharashtra 20.7% > West Bengal 16.5% > Delhi 14.4%; national urban average: 5%.
Commute profile: Average journey to fixed workplace 25 min (Urban 27 min). Monthly commute expenditure ₹785 (Urban ₹1,044; Rural ₹612). Work trips >1 km: Men 61.9% vs Women 41.9%.
Prelims Add-on
NSO functions under MoSPI and is India’s principal organisation for producing official statistics. NHTS is relevant to transport planning, urbanisation, mobility and infrastructure policy.
