Three-quarters (78%) of people plan to make a long-term switch from rail to travelling by car as a result of the rail strikes, new research suggests.

February’s Startline Used Car Tracker also reports that 35% are walking more, 19% are using other public transport such as buses and trams, 13% are using a traditional bicycle and 11% are travelling by electric bike.

Overall, two-thirds (67%) say that recent industrial action mean that they will use the train less in the future, though a significant minority remain committed to rail travel with 20% citing convenience and 16% like travelling by train.

Paul Burgess, CEO at Startline Motor Finance, said: “Despite longer journey times, hundreds of miles of roadworks resulting in congestion and traffic jams, our research suggests the rail strikes are convincing more people to travel by car. And, longer term that can’t be a good thing for the economy.

“It would be worrying if rail-to-car switching by travellers develops into a long-term trend. This would obviously be bad news for clean air strategies in cities and for urban congestion in general. To us, these findings underline the need to resolve the rail dispute as soon as possible.”

Elsewhere in the Used Car Tracker research, highlights used car buyer preferences for fuel types, with petrol up seven percentage points to 40% over the last six months and electric falling nine percentage points to 14% over the same period.

Burgess said: “This is an interesting trend because electric used cars have been falling in price recently and are arguably starting to represent much improved value.

“Added to this is the well-publicised new car price adjustment by Tesla. Our best guess, based on feedback from dealers and customers, is that people are wary of adopting the new technology at a time when their personal finances are under pressure.”

The impact of the current economic crisis on used car buyers is also clearly visible in this month’s research.

Factors influencing car buying decisions include running costs, which was the top answer at 69% and up 10 percentage points over the last six months.

The cost of living was second at 66%, followed by inflation at 41% and job security at 18%.

The Startline Used Car Tracker is compiled monthly for Startline Motor Finance by APD Global Research.

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