GUWAHATI: India has conducted its first-ever National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), with two-wheelers emerging as the most preferred mode of transport for commuting to workplaces, accounting for 42.6% of workers.
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The National Statistics Office (NSO) conducted the survey from July 2025 to June 2026, covering 14,274 villages and 10,377 urban blocks. It collected information from 4,92,023 households covering 20,34,371 persons.
According to the survey, 57.6% of workers aged 15 years and above undertake daily trips of more than one kilometre to their workplaces. The share is 64.1% in urban areas and 54.5% in rural areas.
The average travel time to a fixed workplace is 25 minutes, while 83.4% of workers reach their workplace within 30 minutes.
For students, walking is the most common mode of transport, accounting for 37% of student commutes, followed by buses at 29.5% and bicycles at 15.8%.
The survey also found that 87.6% of students reach their educational institutions within 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, buses and railways account for the majority of overnight household travel, with buses accounting for 55.8% and inter-city railways 17.7%.
The average monthly expenditure on commuting to a fixed workplace is ₹785 per worker. Urban workers spend an average of ₹1,044 per month, compared to ₹612 among rural workers.
The NHTS is aimed at providing data on domestic travel patterns to support transport planning, infrastructure development and policy formulation.
