First National Household Travel Survey: Two-Wheelers Lead at 42.6%

The correct answer is the National Statistics Office. The NSO, which works under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, carried out the first all-India National Household Travel Survey between July 2025 and June 2026 and released its key indicators through a factsheet. Option A, NITI Aayog, is the government’s policy think tank and publishes indices of its own, but it does not run large household sample surveys of this kind. Option C, the Reserve Bank of India, conducts surveys on consumer confidence, inflation expectations and bank credit, not on travel behaviour of households. Option D is incorrect because the Census Commissioner conducts the decennial population census rather than sample surveys on commuting. Aspirants should link NSO and MoSPI with household surveys such as this one, remembering also that the survey additionally served the data requirements of the Ministry of Railways.

The correct answer is the two-wheeler, used by 42.6% of workers. The survey found the two-wheeler to be the single largest primary mode for work trips across the country, with a share of 52.3% in urban areas and 37.1% in rural areas. Option A quotes a bus share that belongs to student travel, not to work trips, where buses carry a far smaller proportion. Option B is a trap built from the rural walking figure; walking is indeed important and stands second among work trip modes, but it does not lead. Option D mixes up a state-level figure with the national one, since metro, suburban rail, monorail and trams together carry only 5.0% of urban workers nationally even though their use is far higher in a few states. Candidates should memorise the national two-wheeler share along with its urban and rural split.

The correct answer is ₹785. The survey put the average monthly outlay on commuting to a fixed workplace at ₹785 for each worker, and the figure hides a sharp divide: urban workers spend ₹1,044 a month while rural workers spend ₹612. Option A is the average monthly spend of students on travel to their educational institution, not of workers. Option B is the rural worker figure alone, so it understates the national average. Option D is the urban worker figure, which is higher than the national average rather than equal to it. There is also a gender gap worth remembering, with male workers spending ₹835 a month against ₹533 for female workers. Questions on this survey are likely to swap the student and worker numbers or the rural and urban ones, so fix all four in memory together.

The correct answer is buses and inter-city railways. The survey reported that buses carry 55.8% of household overnight trips and inter-city railways another 17.7%, which together make up roughly three-quarters of such travel. Cars follow at 15.1% and two-wheelers at 8.8%, so option A describes the next tier rather than the leading pair. Option C is wrong because air travel does not figure among the leading modes for overnight household journeys in the survey’s findings. Option D is incorrect since auto-rickshaws serve short within-day trips rather than overnight ones. It is also worth noting that rail use for overnight trips is about 22.7% among urban households against about 14.0% among rural households, and that socialising, communication and religious activity drive 70.2% of all overnight household travel.