Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)

Table 8
Number of Aircraft, Railcars, Vehicles, and Vessels

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Mode 1970 1980 1990 1999 2000
Air carriers 2,679 3,808 6,083 8,228 U
General aviation 131,743 211,045 196,800 219,464 U
Passenger carsa 89,243,557 121,600,843 133,700,496 132,432,044 133,621,420
Motorcycles 2,824,098 5,693,940 4,259,462 4,152,433 4,346,068
Other 2-axle, 4-tire vehicles 14,210,591 27,875,934 48,274,555 75,356,376 79,084,979
Trucks: Single-unit 3,681,405 4,373,784 4,486,981 5,762,864 5,926,030
Combination 905,082 1,416,869 1,708,895 2,028,562 2,096,619
Busesb 377,562 528,789 626,987 728,777 746,125
Passenger rail          
Amtrak-Cars N 2,128 1,863 1,992 1,894
Locomotives N 419 318 329 378
Commuter railcarsand locomotives   N 4,500 4,415 P4,883
Transitc 10,548 10,654 11,332 P11,603 U
Class I rail:          
Freight cars 1,423,921 1,168,114 658,902 579,140 560,154
Locomotives 27,077 28,094 18,835 20,256 20,028
Other freight cars 360,260 542,713 553,359 789,696 820,642
Nonself-propelled vesselsd,e 19,377 31,662 31,209 33,387 U
Self-propelled vesselsd,e 6,455 7,126 8,236 8,379 U
Oceangoing shipse (1,000 gross tons and over) 1,579 864 636 463 447
Recreational boatsf 7,400,000 8,577,857 10,996,253 12,738,271 12,782,143

a In July 1997, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, reassigned some vehicles from "passenger car" to "other 2-axle, 4-tire."

b Includes municipally owned transit, commercial, federal, and school buses.

c Includes light and heavy rail only.

d See glossary.

e U.S. flag vessels.

f Numbered boats.

Key: N = data do not exist; P = preliminary; U = unavailable.

Source: Various sources, as cited in U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, National Transportation Statistics 2001, table 1-9, available Spring 2002 at www.bts.gov, or email to answers@bts.gov.

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