site.btaThree in Four Commuters in Bulgaria Prefer Their Own Car to Other Modes of Transport, Survey Shows

Overall, 75% of commuters in Bulgaria prefer their own car to other modes of transport. There has been a sharp increase in the use of cars as a mode of travel since 2019-2020. This was announced on Friday by Vanya Ilieva, head of the “Estat” project, under which a sociological survey on people's preferences regarding modes of transport was conducted. Ilieva participated in the forum "Strategic infrastructure projects in rail transport", which took place in Sofia.

The survey was carried out in the summer of 2024 among 1003 Bulgarian citizens using the face-to-face method, and it was commissioned by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The data from the analyses shows that the second most preferred mode of transport is bus transport with just under 20%. Unlike car transport, it has seen a steady decline as the preferred means of travel since 2019-2020. Rail transport is the least preferred as the main means of travel, while in 2019 11% of travellers identified it as the main means, in 2024 this share reaches 4%, Ilieva pointed out.

People in the country travel frequently and actively, with three out of ten people travelling at least once a week to somewhere other than where they live, according to the survey. Six out of ten travel at least once a month, and 9 out of 10 people travel at least once a year, Vanya Ilieva said. The group of citizens who are most active when travelling within the country are aged 40-50, with secondary and higher education, living in smaller settlements. Whether these trips are for work or to access services, domestic travel is an integral part of people's daily lives, Ilieva noted. She said that having a good and functioning infrastructure, including rail, is becoming increasingly important for economic activity in the regions, but also for social connectivity in the country.

Vanya Ilieva said that according to the survey, rail users are over 50, middle and low income, both working and non-working, and trains are more actively used in the south of the country. When asked what the most important factors are when choosing a means of transport and about the reasons that determine this choice, respondents put security, comfort and convenience of travel, as well as the state of transport infrastructure, she added. For about a third of passengers, punctuality and predictability, as well as travel time are significant factors when choosing a mode of transport, while the lowest price, transport connectivity and the availability of modern technologies rather do not determine the choice and are currently peripheral factors, according to the survey.

Asked in free text to share what the most important transport issues in the country are for the survey participants, they put the quality of roads and road infrastructure first, followed by the quality of rail services provided by Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ). The group of travellers who are particularly sensitive to the problems of rail transport and BDZ services live in the northern regions of the country, especially in the north-western region, where one in two travels at least once a month to another location.