Rail journeys in the North West plummeted by nearly 80 per cent during the peak of the pandemic.
Trips made by train from the North West to other regions, meanwhile, fell even further, to just 15.6 per cent of pre-pandemic times, an indication that restrictions did stop most people travelling to other parts of the country by public transport.
A new report from the Office of Rail Regulation shows passengers in the North West made a total of 30.6m journeys in the financial year 2020-21, just 21.1 per cent of those made the previous year.
This is the lowest number of journeys recorded in this 'time series', which began in 1995-96.
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There were 24.4m journeys made within the region, for example from Manchester to Liverpool, between April 2020 and April 2021.
That is just 23.1 per cent of the 105m journeys made in 2019-20.
Meanwhile, journeys from the North West to other regions, like Yorkshire or London, fell from 40m in 2019-20 to 6.3m, an 84 per cent drop.
Most of these journeys were made to or from Yorkshire and the Humber (28%), London (23%), the West Midlands (16%), or the East Midlands (11%).
Of the five sub-regions in the North West, most journeys, 3.4m, were made from Greater Manchester.
The report reads: "There were some small methodological adjustments in 2020-21.
"Nevertheless, most of the difference can be explained by the restrictions on non-essential travel during the pandemic, which resulted in average journey lengths falling by 16.1 per cent in 2020-21 compared with 2019-20."
Another report shows that passengers are now returning to the railways, but not in the same numbers as before Covid struck.
Between July and September last year, there were 86 per cent more journeys than in the same period in 2020.
However, this is still 'considerably lower' than before the pandemic, with 248m journeys during those three months equating to just 55 per cent of the 448m journeys made in the same period in 2019.
It led to a revenue loss, nationally, of £1.3bn over just those three months - nearly half the takings from the same period in 2019.
The travel industry was among the worst hit sectors by the pandemic.
Manchester Airport's struggles have been well-documented, while Metrolink was given a Government bail-out of £120.2m, which runs out in April.
Meanwhile, a report presented to GMCA in October shows that TfGM has passed on an average of £3m a month to operators using funds provided by the Department for Transport.
Transport bosses are currently locked in negotiations with the Department for Transport in a bid to secure funding beyond this point for both buses and Metrolink.
The statistics have been published as as leaders continue to push for the Government to improved rail infrastructure beyond its 'cut-price' rail plan which shaved £18bn off the proposal for new east-west links put forward by the North, missing out Bradford and significantly reducing the size of the proposed high-speed network.
It prompted northern mayors to write to ministers demanding they revist the issue so a full assessment of its potential levelling up benefits can be carried out.
Across Great Britain, there were 344m passenger journeys in 2020-21. That's 23 per cent of the 1,504m made the previous year.
Meanwhile, the 264m journeys made just within regions, from Manchester to Liverpool, for example, went from 264m to 1,022m, a drop of nearly 26 per cent.
The report shows London had the most journeys within a region, with 149m, while the East of England recorded the highest percentage of journeys made compared with 2019-20, with 35.8 per cent.
Nationally, journeys from one region to another fell from 482m to 79.6m, or by 83 per cent.
