Travel in Metropolitan Areas

Surveys have consistently shown that most trips that people make within a metropolitan either originate or end with their home. Relatively few trips originate and end at non-residential locations, as suggested by the following diagram.

Results of the National Personal Transportation Survey, 1990, are available in the Statistical Abstract of the United States 1995. They show that a household averaged 1,702 vehicle trips in 1990, up from 1,396 in 1969.

The largest number (448 in 1990) are for work. Next come trips for family or personal business (including school) with 411; social and recreational trips with 349; and shopping with 345.


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Last Revised:  July 26, 2001