Cost of living insights: Transport

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Motor fuel prices fall by 13.1% in year to May 2023

The price of motor fuel has continued to fall in the 12 months to May 2023, according to the latest annual inflation rate. It follows falls of 8.9% in the year to April 2023, and 5.9% in the year to March.

Falling motor fuel prices were one of the largest downward contributors to the inflation rate.

Average petrol and diesel prices stood at 144.4 and 154.6 pence per litre respectively in May 2023, down from 165.9 and 179.7 pence per litre in May 2022. Between April and May 2023, petrol prices fell by 1.4 pence per litre, and diesel by 7.8 pence per litre.

Air fares rose by 20.0% between April and May 2023, with some of the highest rises for European flights.

Overall, the annual inflation rate for transport eased slightly to 1.3% in the year to May 2023, down from 1.6% in April. This follows a general downward trend, from a peak of 15.2% in June 2022.

There was more variation in price changes across passenger transport by road, rail and air.

Rail prices rose by 6.9% in the year to May 2023, up from 5.1% in the year to April 2023.

Around 6 in 10 (62%) adults reported that their cost of living had increased, compared with a month ago. This is according to our latest Public opinions and social trends bulletin for the period 14 to 25 June 2023.

Some 34% of them said an increase in the price of fuel was one of the reasons behind this rise.

Around one-third (32%) of adults said they were cutting down on non-essential journeys because of the increased cost of living.

That was below a high of 51% in the period from 17 to 29 August 2022.

Related links

• Read our summary of our current and future analytical work related to the cost of living.

• The government is offering help for households. See what cost of living support you could be eligible for.

• Explore the UK Measures of National Well-being dashboard, which tracks the progress of a range of factors affecting people’s lives. We have explained some of the findings from new measures added in 2023 in our Most adults report making some changes to their lifestyle for environmental reasons article.