- Why in news
- On 5 October 2026, MoSPI's National Statistics Office released the factsheet of the first National Household Travel Survey, conducted July 2025 – June 2026.
- What it is
- The National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) is the first all-India survey by the NSO on how households travel. It records purpose, mode, duration, distance and cost of trips of 1 km or more. Its data is meant to support regional transport planning, infrastructure investment and policy.
- Who ran it
- The National Statistics Office under MoSPI conducted the first-ever all-India household travel survey.
- Definition of travel
- Only trips covering more than 1 km count as travel; shorter trips were not recorded.
- Overnight trip
- A trip keeping a member away from home for over 24 hours counts as overnight, but trips under 50 km are excluded.
- Workers' main mode
- Two-wheelers are the largest primary mode for workers: 37.1% rural and 52.3% urban.
- Overnight trips
- Buses and inter-city railways are the main modes for household overnight trips.
- Commute cost
- Average monthly cost of commuting to a fixed workplace is ₹785, higher in urban areas than rural.
Don’t confuse with Within travel-day trip vs overnight trip: A within travel-day trip keeps members away for no more than 24 hours. An overnight trip is over 24 hours and at least 50 km.
Don’t confuse with Travel day vs calendar day: In NHTS a travel day runs from 3:00 AM to 2:59 AM the next day, not midnight to midnight.
Reports and indices: 14 Prelims questions since 2013; they test who publishes a report and what it measures.
Why it matters
- Gives the first national baseline for transport planning, including routes, frequency and accessibility.
- Shows gender and rural-urban gaps in mobility and commute cost, useful for inclusive policy.
Problems
- Trips under 1 km are not recorded, so walking-based short travel is missed.
- Women's lower travel participation (41.9% vs 61.9% for men) needs targeted action, not just data.
Way forward
- Use the findings to plan public transport, last-mile links and service frequency, especially in urban areas.
- Repeat the survey periodically to track trends in modal shift.
Put in your answer
Gender gap in work travel: 61.9% of male workers make daily work trips of over 1 km, against 41.9% of female workers.
Urban rail transit: Monorail, metro, suburban rail and trams make up 5.0% of urban worker commutes nationally, with higher shares in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi.
Urban-rural cost gap: Urban workers pay ₹1,044 a month to commute, against ₹612 for rural workers.
- 2014Mains GS3 · Q8Critically discuss success of government strategies for moving people, per National Urban Transport Policy.
- 2019Mains GS1 · Q16How efficient, affordable urban mass transport drives India's rapid economic development.
- 2024Mains GS3 · Q6Electronic toll collection technology: advantages, limitations, proposed changes, and potential hazards.
- 2018Prelims Q3Statements on NSSO 70th Round agricultural households survey findings.
UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.
No practice question for this one; the card may still help an answer. Why: First-ever NSO all-India survey on household travel; useful data, but reports are 14 of 327 news-linked Prelims questions and data is mostly routine.
Worth revising until Prelims 2028: most news questions come within two years of the event.