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Before the pandemic, Europeans relied on cars for 70% of their trips, compared to 77% for U.S. residents. However, a recent report from the European Union found that Europe’s share of passenger car travel rose to 80% in 2021 post-pandemic, while the US share remained at 78% (and in 2022). (Decreased to 74% in 2013). Union.This means that Europe is more dependent on cars than the US.
Although this report is labeled “2023,” it was actually released in late January 2024 and includes data through 2021. The report’s title is “Key Numbers,” and it’s literally true. Reports, like charts, consist almost exclusively of numbers. There is little or no actual data. However, the graphs are clear and can be read to the nearest percentage. meanwhile, National traffic statistics Table 1-40 shows the percentage of passenger travel in the United States that relies on automobiles, airplanes, rail, and other modes.
Mode share by country
To help estimate mode shares, we added rows corresponding to 80, 85, 90, and 95 percent. See page 2 of the report for counties that correspond to the two-letter codes shown in this table.
Page 13 of the European report provides a breakdown of the transport share by European Union member state. Norway and Switzerland (CH) are also included, although they are not member states, but the UK has been perversely omitted. In any case, about half of EU member states rely on automobiles for more passenger movements than the United States, and these include Germany, Belgium, Poland, Finland, and non-member Norway. The only countries that are significantly less dependent on cars than the United States are Austria, Croatia, and Hungary.
Of course, I prefer to use the term “car emancipation” rather than car dependence, as emancipation better reflects the actual benefits of car ownership. Automobiles provide people with better access to jobs, quality housing, affordable consumer goods, and other economic and social benefits than any other form of urban travel.
Despite many European countries spending billions of dollars on high-speed rail, the share of trips taken by rail has fallen from about 8% before the pandemic to about 6% in 2021. In the U.S., including both urban and intercity rail, the rate fell from 0.6% in 2019 to about 6% in 2021. It will recover to 0.25% in 2021 and 0.4% in 2022. Rail’s share is not significant in the United States, but it is also less important in Europe.
Although Switzerland has not built high-speed trains, it relies on rail for more passenger journeys than any other European country, around 13%. Spain has built more high-speed railways than any other European country, but the share of railways is less than 5 percent. Austria is 8%. France has the second highest penetration rate of high-speed rail, at about 7%, same as the Netherlands. All other countries seem to have less than 7% of her. (Note that these shares include both intercity and urban rail.)
Read the rest of this article at The Antiplanner.
Anti-Planner Randall O’Toole is a policy analyst with nearly 50 years of experience reviewing transportation and land use plans and author of The Best-Laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your He is the author of “Future”. .
Photo: Screenshot of the cover of the report.
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