TRENDS IN PERSONAL MOTOR VEHICLE OWNERSHIP AND USE: EVIDENCE FROM THE NATIONWIDE PERSONAL TRANSPORTATION SURVEY

Abstract

This paper uses information from the Nationwide Personal Transportation Surveys (NPTS) conducted in 1969, 1977, 1983, 1990, and 1995 to explore growth in personal motor vehicle travel, changes in the number, types, and age distribution of household motor vehicles, and the determinants of household vehicle use patterns. After growing rapidly between 1969 and 1990, household vehicle ownership and use have stabilized: vehicle miles traveled (VMT) estimates based on self-reported annual driving and vehicle use each show annual growth under 1% between 1990 and 1995, a markedly slower rate than prevailed during the 1980s. Annual miles driven per licensed driver decreased 4.5% over this period, while the number of licensed drivers increased 8.4%. The decline in annual VMT per licensed driver occurred among both men and women and among most age groups. After increasing slowly from 1977 to 1990, the number of vehicles per household showed no change in the 1995 survey. Because the number of household members of license-eligible age declined slightly, the number of vehicles per household member of driving age increased from 0.76 in 1977 to 0.89 during 1990, where it remained in the 1995 survey. At the same time, the average age of vehicles owned by U.S. households increased rapidly from 5.6 years during 1977 to 7.6 years in 1983, showed no change in 1990, but rose sharply to 8.3 years during 1995 (when vehicles 10 or more years old accounted for more than one-third of all household vehicles). The newest vehicles in the household fleet are utilized extremely intensively: those less than five years old are driven approximately 15,000 mi (24,135 km) annually, and vehicles from ages five to ten are driven nearly as much, averaging 12,000-13,000 mi (19,308-20,917 km) annually. Not until approximately age 15 and beyond does average annual utilization drop consistently below the 10,000-mi (16,090-km) threshold. Vehicles classified as light-duty trucks--particularly vans and sport/utility vehicles (SUVs)--increasingly substitute for passenger automobiles. Pickup trucks appear to be a distinct class of vehicles with different ownership and utilization patterns from automobiles and other light trucks. Passenger automobiles represented only about 65% of household vehicles during 1995, a significantly lower share than the more than 71% they represented only five years earlier. Automobiles tend to be driven slightly less than the overall average for all household vehicle types [about 12,000 mi (19,308 km) annually], while light-duty trucks are typically used much more intensively: vans average nearly 15,000 mi (24,135 km) annually, SUVs almost 14,000 mi (22,526 km), and pickup trucks over 13,000 mi (20,917 km) per year.