Box 2 - Personal Travel

The National Household Travel Survey, last conducted in 2001, is a U.S. Department of
Transportation effort sponsored by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the Federal Highway Administration to collect data on both long-distance and local travel by the American public. The survey gathers trip-related data such as mode of transportation, duration, distance, and purpose of trip. It also gathers demographic, geographic, and economic data for analysis purposes. U.S. residents on average travel about 14,500 miles each year on daily trips, more than half way around the world.

• U.S. residents' total 1.4 trillion person-miles of long-distance travel a year on about 2.6 billion long distance trips. (Table F-2 in Chapter 2)
• Nine out of 10 long-distance trips are by personal vehicle (Table F-2)
• Eighty-eight percent of people commuting to work use personal vehicles (Table F-5)
• There are more personal vehicles per household (1.9) in the United States than drivers (1.8). (Table F-4)