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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Table 4-20M: Energy Intensity of Passenger Modes (Kilojoule per passenger-kilometer)

Friday, July 22, 2016

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  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 5,659 6,633 6,677 5,593 3,952 3,245 3,125 2,974 2,893 2,922 2,848 2,807 2,685 2,682 2,544 2,628 2,552 2,523 2,365 2,290 2,234 2,119 2,060 1,993 1,925 1,819 1,764 1,697 1,592 1,551 1,527
International operations 6,031 6,748 7,202 4,948 2,867 3,007 2,758 2,748 2,598 2,531 2,567 2,578 2,552 2,593 2,527 2,591 2,528 2,648 2,612 2,741 2,550 2,502 2,403 2,342 2,277 2,218 2,188 2,307 2,284 2,224 2,137
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 2,208 2,192 2,506 (R) 2,527 2,547 2,533 2,519 2,542
Passenger carsa,d 2,947 2,921 3,174 3,109 2,850 2,798 2,499 2,395 2,428 2,482 2,472 2,439 2,427 2,397 2,385 2,407 1,927 1,920 1,923 1,908 1,878 1,915 1,900 N N N N N N N N
Motorcycleb,c U U 1,500 1,496 1,364 1,263 1,260 1,294 1,310 1,332 1,356 1,490 1,490 1,490 1,490 1,490 1,110 1,120 1,104 1,086 872 885 744 1,432 1,517 1,762 (R) 1,754 (R) 1,749 1,747 1,747 1,747
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 2,974 2,727 (R) 3,547 (R) 3,571 3,587 3,583 3,575 3,588
Other 2-axle 4-tire vehiclesa,d U U 4,472 4,304 3,744 3,259 2,919 2,804 2,791 2,803 2,848 2,975 2,989 2,992 2,995 3,024 5,093 4,938 5,024 5,436 5,264 4,788 4,534 N N N N N N N N
Truck, single-unit 2-axle 6-tire or morec U U 12,007 12,835 14,250 13,343 13,195 12,660 12,529 12,252 12,077 12,044 12,034 11,731 11,735 10,924 7,799 7,656 7,881 6,456 6,600 7,095 6,547 11,143 11,075 11,080 11,178 11,222 11,156 11,150 11,167
Truck, combination U 17,231 17,139 16,095 15,556 14,702 14,014 14,253 14,178 14,105 14,032 14,038 13,917 13,354 16,061 15,189 13,044 12,373 12,900 11,246 11,462 12,957 12,989 13,749 13,624 13,674 13,941 14,099 14,013 14,009 14,050
Bus U U U U U 720 604 581 587 586 581 583 583 580 574 579 290 305 290 280 389 329 316 538 536 534 539 543 540 539 540
Transit motor bus N N N N 1,798 2,222 2,441 2,470 2,647 2,586 2,728 2,724 2,734 (R) 2,465 (R) 2,433 (R) 2,370 (R) 2,433 (R) 2,359 (R) 2,269 (R) 2,204 (R) 2,246 (R) 2,102 (R) 2,082 (R) 2,021 (R) 1,987 (R) 2,284 (R) 2,025 (R) 1,205 (R) 2,621 2,061 1,810
Amtrak N N N 1,562 1,408 1,370 1,354 1,297 1,327 1,323 1,246 1,322 1,443 1,500 1,479 1,537 1,762 1,764 1,663 1,406 1,356 1,327 1,277 1,196 1,144 1,162 1,094 1,068 1,023 1,054 1,068

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.

1 mile = 1.609344 kilometers, 1 gallon = 3.785412 litres, 1 Btu = 1.055056 kilojoule.

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