TU Dublin Smarter Travel Survey 2026
Whether you walk, cycle, drive, use public transport, or combine different modes of travel, your experience matters. The way we travel to TU Dublin continues to evolve, and we want to understand what that journey looks like today.
The TU Dublin Smarter Travel Survey will run from 11-30 November 2026, and we are inviting students and staff across all campuses to share their commuting experiences.
The survey is conducted nationally across campuses in Ireland and informs the National Transport Authority, local authorities and TU Dublin of how we travel to campus and the reasons for our modal choices.
Your feedback helps the University better understand travel patterns, identify emerging challenges, and inform future decisions relating to transport, accessibility, campus planning, student accommodation and sustainability initiatives.
The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete, and all participants can enter a draw to win one of five €20 Great Outdoors vouchers.
Tell us what's really happening - take the survey now
Since our last survey, the realities of travelling to university have continued to change. Rising commuting costs, evolving work and study patterns, parking management changes, pressure on public transport networks, improvements to walking and cycling infrastructure, road safety concerns, longer journey times, and the ongoing housing and student accommodation crisis are all influencing how people get to campus.
For some, commuting has become easier. For others, it has become more expensive, more complex, or more time-consuming.
Whether your journey takes five minutes or two hours, whether you travel every day or combine attendance with remote work and study, we want to hear about your experience. Your feedback will help us build an up-to-date picture of travel across TU Dublin and identify opportunities to improve the commuting experience for students and staff.
Help us track how travel is changing
The Smarter Travel Survey helps us understand how travel patterns are changing and whether investments, policies and wider societal changes are having an impact.
Since 2022, we have seen encouraging signs that more staff are choosing public transport, while fewer are travelling by private car. Walking rates among students have increased compared to previous years, while cycling participation has remained relatively unchanged despite significant investment in active travel infrastructure across Dublin.
At the same time, housing affordability and accommodation availability are increasingly influencing how far people travel to reach campus.
The 2026 survey will help us understand whether these trends are continuing, reversing, or creating new opportunities and challenges for the TU Dublin community. The survey addresses many concerns around travel, with questions seeking to learn:
- Are more people choosing public transport?
- Are recent investments in walking and cycling making a difference?
- Has parking become easier or more difficult?
- Is the housing crisis increasing commute times?
- What barriers still prevent people from travelling more sustainably?
The only way to answer these questions is to hear directly from the people making those journeys every day.
The results of previous surveys in 2019, 2022 and 2024 have helped TU Dublin engage with national transport agencies, local authorities, planners and government bodies to highlight the travel challenges and opportunities experienced by our university community.
We have made it easier to take part
Based on feedback from previous surveys, the 2026 Smarter Travel Survey has been significantly streamlined.
We have reduced the number of questions and improved the survey logic so that participants are only presented with questions relevant to their circumstances and travel habits. The result is a faster, more user-friendly survey experience that takes approximately 10 minutes to complete, while still providing the insights needed to support future planning and investment.
Your journey matters
The decisions TU Dublin makes about travel, mobility, accessibility and campus development are stronger when they are informed by real experiences.
Whether you travel by foot, bike, bus, train, DART, LUAS, car, or a combination of different modes, your journey contributes to the bigger picture.
Take 10 minutes, share your experience, and help shape the future of travel at TU Dublin.