Transportation Patterns
Since a peak in 2008, Americans drove 2.6 percent fewer passenger miles annually as of July
2013 than they did before the financial crisis. Generational preferences, the effects of the recession,
the high cost of oil, and new urban development patterns increasingly move
Americans to mass transit and other modes of transport. Fewer passenger miles translate to
fewer GHG emissions from mobile sources. Cars are also becoming more fuel efficient, due to
both a shift in consumer demand and federal and state policies.