Geopath Government Transportation Statistics on Trips
- Kevin Narine
Q. How is a "trip" defined?
A. "trip" is defined as travel directly between two anchor destinations, such as a trip from home to work. Trips can also involve a stop on the way to another destination, at which point the trip is defined as a "trip chain." An operational definition of trip chain is a sequence of trips bounded by stops of 30 minutes or less. If a stop lasts longer than 31 minutes, it becomes the terminus of the trip. Trip chains can include multiple stops such as dropping children at school and stopping for coffee, gasoline, or other errands before continuing to work or home.
Source: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/2010cpr/chap1.cfm
Source: https://nhts.ornl.gov/assets/2016/NHTS2017_TravelLog.pdf
National Household Travel Survey Daily Travel Quick Fact
Daily Travel is a trip from one point to another on a single day.
HOW WE TRAVEL
87 percent of daily trips take place in personal vehicles
91 percent of people commuting to work use personal vehicles
HOW MANY TRIPS WE TAKE EVERY DAY
Americans take 1.1 billion trips a day — four for every person in the U.S
U.S. daily travel averages 11 billion miles a day — almost 40 miles per person per day
HOW MANY TRIPS WE TAKE IN A YEAR
Americans take 411 billion daily trips a year or about 1,500 trips per person
U.S. daily travel totals about 4 trillion miles — 14,500 miles per person
WHY WE TRAVEL
45 percent of daily trips are taken for shopping and errands
27 percent of daily trips are social and recreational, such as visiting a friend
15 percent of daily trips are taken for commuting
WHAT WE DRIVE
There are 204 million personal vehicles available for regular use
57 percent are cars or station wagons
21 percent are vans or SUVs
19 percent are light trucks
WHEN WE TRAVEL
The most daily trips are made on Friday (16 percent)
The fewest daily trips are made on Sunday (13 percent)
More daily trips are taken between noon and 1 p.m. (7.4 percent) than between 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. (5.5 percent)