Government data also shows that light commercial and heavy goods traffic have returned to pre Covid levels, rail journeys are now a quarter of what they were before travel restrictions began and bus use across England is around 39% compared to earlier in the year.

In April, car use was down to as low as a third of pre-lockdown levels and has been rising steadily since. Light commercial vehicle use fell to 38% and heavy goods traffic was down to 60% at one point. Rail journeys were as low as 4% and bus trips down to 10% of normal weekday levels.

By contrast the number of cycle journeys were more than twice what they had previously been in April and rose to nearly two and a half times the number of pre-lockdown journeys on two wheels.

The return of motor traffic has been criticised by the Liberal Democrats which says the Government “failed to be radical enough to deliver permanent change”. Its environment representative Wera Hobhouse added: “Breathing fresher air and more space on the roads for cycling were, for many, the only silver linings of the Covid-19 lockdown.

“The Government cannot expect people to abandon car travel without providing safe, regular public transport alternatives.”

Yesterday the passenger watchdog Transport Focus called on Government to take a lead from its ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme by offering rail passengers discounts on train travel.

“We need a ‘Head Out to Help Out’ campaign to help get the country on the move again, boost the economy and reduce traffic on our roads,” said chief executive Anthony Smith.
And in a sign of the impact the pandemic is having on the aviation sector, London City Airport has postponed plans to build a new taxiway, aircraft stands and passenger facilities.

It said that while there has been a return to flying this summer, the recovery of the UK aviation market “has been slower than expected” and a return to previous passenger levels will take longer than initially thought.

(Photograph: Aleksey Boyko - Shutterstock)