Table 4-15: Bus Fuel Consumption and Travel

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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 2013 2014
Number registered (thousands) 272 314 378 462 529 593 627 631 645 654 670 686 695 698 716 729 746 750 761 777 795 807 822 834 843 842 846 666 765 865 872
Vehicle-miles traveled (millions) 4,300 4,700 4,500 6,100 6,100 4,500 5,700 5,800 5,800 6,100 6,400 6,400 6,563 6,842 7,007 7,662 7,590 7,077 6,845 6,783 6,801 6,980 6,783 14,516 14,823 14,387 13,770 13,807 14,781 15,167 15,999
Fuel consumed (million gallons) 827 875 820 1,053 1,018 834 895 864 878 929 964 968 990 1,027 1,040 1,148 1,112 1,026 1,000 969 1,360 1,120 1,148 2,022 2,057 1,987 1,921 1,936 2,063 2,117 2,233
Average miles traveled per vehicle (thousands) 15.8 15.0 11.9 13.2 11.5 7.6 9.1 9.2 9.0 9.3 9.5 9.3 9.4 9.8 9.8 10.5 10.2 9.4 9.0 8.7 8.6 8.6 8.3 17.4 17.6 17.1 16.3 20.7 19.3 17.5 18.3
Average miles traveled per gallon 5.2 5.4 5.5 5.8 6.0 5.4 6.4 6.7 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.8 7.0 5.0 6.2 5.9 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.1 7.2 7.2 7.2
Average fuel consumed per vehicle (gallons) 3,039.0 2,784.1 2,171.8 2,278.5 1,925.2 1,405.3 1,427.5 1,368.6 1,361.8 1,419.6 1,437.9 1,412.1 1,424.8 1,471.7 1,453.9 1,575.7 1,490.4 1,368.7 1,314.0 1,247.8 1,710.3 1,387.8 1,397.2 2,422.8 2,439.1 2,360.0 2,270.7 2,906.9 2,698.5 (R) 2,448.2 2,561.0

KEY: R = revised.

NOTES

This table Includes data for both publicly and privately owned school, transit, and other commercial buses.

Data for 2007-14 were calculated using new sources and a new methodology developed by FHWA. Data for these years are not comparable to previous years. The FHWA estimates national trends by using State reported Highway Performance and Monitoring System (HPMS) data, fuel consumption data (MF-21 and MF-27), vehicle registration data (MV-1, MV-9, and MV-10), other data such as the R. L. Polk vehicle data, and a host of modeling techniques. Starting with the 2007 VM-1, an enhanced methodology is used to provide timely indictors on both travel and travel behavior changes.

SOURCES

1960-94: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics Summary to 1995, FHWA-PL-97-009 (Washington, DC: July 1997), table VM-201A, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/hss/hsspubs.cfm as of Mar. 23, 2009.

1995-2014: Ibid., Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), table VM-1, available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm as of Aug. 8, 2016.