Table 4-20: Energy Intensity of Passenger Modes (Btu per passenger-mile)
| 1960 | 1965 | 1970 | 1975 | 1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | (R) 2013 | 2014 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air, certificated carrier | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic operations | 8,633 | 10,118 | 10,185 | 8,532 | 6,029 | 4,950 | 4,767 | 4,536 | 4,413 | 4,457 | 4,345 | 4,282 | 4,096 | 4,091 | 3,881 | 4,009 | 3,892 | 3,848 | 3,608 | 3,493 | 3,408 | 3,232 | 3,142 | 3,040 | 2,936 | 2,774 | 2,691 | 2,588 | 2,428 | 2,366 | 2,329 |
| International operations | 9,199 | 10,292 | 10,986 | 7,547 | 4,374 | 4,586 | 4,207 | 4,192 | 3,963 | 3,861 | 3,916 | 3,932 | 3,893 | 3,955 | 3,854 | 3,952 | 3,857 | 4,039 | 3,984 | 4,180 | 3,890 | 3,817 | 3,665 | 3,572 | 3,473 | 3,384 | 3,338 | 3,519 | 3,484 | 3,392 | 3,260 |
| Highway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Light duty vehicle, short wheel basea,b,c | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | 3,368 | 3,344 | 3,823 | (R) 3,854 | 3,885 | 3,864 | 3,843 | 3,877 |
| Passenger carsa,d | 4,496 | 4,456 | 4,842 | 4,742 | 4,348 | 4,268 | 3,812 | 3,654 | 3,704 | 3,787 | 3,771 | 3,721 | 3,702 | 3,657 | 3,637 | 3,672 | 2,939 | 2,929 | 2,933 | 2,911 | 2,864 | 2,922 | 2,898 | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| Motorcycleb,c | U | U | 2,289 | 2,281 | 2,080 | 1,926 | 1,922 | 1,973 | 1,999 | 2,031 | 2,068 | 2,273 | 2,273 | 2,273 | 2,273 | 2,273 | 1,693 | 1,708 | 1,683 | 1,656 | 1,331 | 1,351 | 1,136 | 2,185 | 2,315 | (R) 2,688 | (R) 2,675 | (R) 2,669 | 2,665 | 2,665 | 2,665 |
| Light duty vehicle, long wheel basea,b,c | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | 4,537 | 4,159 | 5,411 | (R) 5,447 | 5,472 | 5,465 | 5,453 | 5,472 |
| Other 2-axle 4-tire vehiclesa,d | U | U | 6,822 | 6,566 | 5,712 | 4,971 | 4,452 | 4,277 | 4,258 | 4,275 | 4,344 | 4,538 | 4,559 | 4,564 | 4,569 | 4,612 | 7,769 | 7,533 | 7,664 | 8,292 | 8,029 | 7,303 | 6,917 | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| Truck, single-unit 2-axle 6-tire or morec | U | U | 18,315 | 19,578 | 21,736 | 20,353 | 20,127 | 19,311 | 19,112 | 18,689 | 18,422 | 18,372 | 18,356 | 17,894 | 17,901 | 16,663 | 11,896 | 11,679 | 12,021 | 9,848 | 10,067 | 10,823 | 9,987 | 16,997 | 16,893 | 16,901 | 17,051 | 17,118 | 17,017 | 17,008 | 17,033 |
| Truck, combination | U | 26,283 | 26,143 | 24,551 | 23,728 | 22,426 | 21,376 | 21,741 | 21,626 | 21,515 | 21,404 | 21,413 | 21,229 | 20,369 | 24,500 | 23,169 | 19,897 | 18,873 | 19,677 | 17,154 | 17,483 | 19,763 | 19,813 | 20,972 | 20,781 | 20,858 | 21,265 | 21,507 | 21,375 | 21,369 | 21,431 |
| Bus | U | U | U | U | U | 1,098 | 922 | 886 | 896 | 894 | 887 | 889 | 889 | 885 | 875 | 884 | 443 | 466 | 442 | 427 | 593 | 502 | 482 | 821 | 818 | 814 | 822 | 828 | 823 | 823 | 823 |
| Transit motor bus | N | N | N | N | 2,742 | 3,389 | 3,723 | 3,767 | 4,038 | 3,944 | 4,162 | 4,155 | 4,170 | (R) 3,761 | (R) 3,712 | (R) 3,615 | (R) 3,711 | (R) 3,598 | (R) 3,460 | (R) 3,362 | (R) 3,426 | (R) 3,207 | (R) 3,176 | (R) 3,083 | (R) 3,031 | (R) 3,484 | (R) 3,089 | (R) 1,838 | (R) 3,998 | 3,143 | 2,760 |
| Amtrak | N | N | N | 2,383 | 2,148 | 2,089 | 2,066 | 1,978 | 2,024 | 2,018 | 1,900 | 2,017 | 2,201 | 2,289 | 2,255 | 2,344 | 2,688 | 2,690 | 2,537 | 2,145 | 2,068 | 2,025 | 1,948 | 1,824 | 1,745 | 1,773 | 1,668 | 1,628 | 1,561 | 1,608 | 1,629 |
KEY: Btu = British thermal unit; N = data does not exist; R = revised; U = data are not available.
a 1960-2006 data are for Passenger Cars and Other 2-axle, 4-tire vehicles, respectively. Data for 1960-2006 are not comparable to data for 2007-12.
b U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), provides data separately for Light duty vehicle, short wheel base (formerly Passenger car) and Motorcycle in its annual Highway Statistics series. However, the 1995 summary report provides updated data for Light duty vehicle, short wheel base (formerly Passenger car) and Motorcycle combined. Light duty vehicle, short wheel base (formerly Passenger car) figures in this table were computed by U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, by subtracting the most current motorcycle figures from the aggregate Light duty vehicle, short wheel base (formerly Passenger car) and Motorcycle figures.
c 1960-65, Motorcycle data are included in Light duty vehicle, short wheel base (formerly Passenger car), and Long duty vehicle, long wheel base (formerly Other 2-axle 4-tire vehicle) data are included in Single-unit 2-axle 6-tire or more Truck.
d In July 1997, the FHWA published revised vehicle-miles data for the highway modes for many years. The major change reflected the reassignment of some vehicles from the Passenger cars category to the Other 2-axle 4-tire vehicles category. This category was calculated prior to rounding.
NOTES
To calculate total Btu, multiply fuel consumed (see tables 4-21, 4-22, 4-24, 4-26) by 135,000 Btu/gallon for air carrier; 125,000 Btu/gallon for Light duty vehicle, short wheel base, Light duty vehicle, long wheel base, and Motorcycle; 138,700 Btu/gallon for Transit motor bus and Amtrak diesel consumption; and 3,412 Btu/KwH for Amtrak electric consumption.
Amtrak passenger-miles data for 2000 and earlier years are for fiscal years; and are not be comparable with 2001 and later years which is reported in calendar year.
Transit motor bus data for 1996 and later years are obtained from the National Transit Database and cannot be compared with data for earlier years.
SOURCES
Air:
Certificated air carriers:
Passenger-miles:
1960-70: Air Transport Association, available at http://www.air-transport.org/ as of July 31, 2002.
1975-2014: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T1: U.S. Air Carrier Traffic and Capacity Summary by Service Class, available at http://www.transtats.bts.gov/Fields.asp?Table_ID=264 as of Oct. 27, 2015.
Fuel consumed:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, Airline Fuel Cost and Consumption, available at http://www.transtats.bts.gov/fuel.asp as of Oct. 27, 2015.
Highway:
Passenger car:
1960-94: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics Summary to 1995, table VM-201A, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm as of Oct. 6, 2011.
1995-2006: Ibid., Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), table VM-1, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm as of Oct. 6, 2011.
Light duty vehicle, short wheel base:
2007-14: Ibid., Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), table VM-1, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm as of June 6, 2016.
Other 2-axle 4-tire vehicle:
1970-94: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics Summary to 1995, table VM-201A, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm as of Oct. 6, 2011.
1995-2006: Ibid., Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), table VM-1, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm as of Oct. 6, 2011.
Light duty vehicle, long wheel base:
2007-14: Ibid., Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), table VM-1, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm as of June 6, 2016.
Motorcycle:
1970-94: Ibid., Highway Statistics, Summary to 1985 (Washington, DC: 1986), table VM-201A.
For 1970-94, the unrevised motorcycle vehicle-miles are subtracted from the combined passenger car and motorcycle vehicle-miles from VM-201A.
1995-2014: Ibid., Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), table VM-1, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm as of June 6, 2016.
Transit motor bus:
1960-95: American Public Transportation Association, 2010 Public Transportation Fact Book Appendix A: Historical Tables (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), tables 2, 6, 30, 32 and similar tables in earlier editions, available at http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Pages/transitstats.aspx as of Aug 23, 2010.
1996-2014: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database, tables 17, 19, and similar tables in earlier editions, available at http://www.ntdprogram.gov/ntdprogram/data.htm as of Apr. 13, 2016.
Amtrak:
1975-2001: Amtrak., State and Local Affairs Department, personal communication.
2001-14: Amtrak, personal communications, Jan. 7, 2010, Jul. 26, 2011, Apr. 24, 2012, June 9, 2014, Sept. 11, 2015, and Jun. 21, 2016.