New AAA data shows that rideshare, transit, and taxi use plummeted, did not fully recover
Charlotte, N.C. (July 15, 2021) – AAA is examining how the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions, such as stay-at-home orders, led to a drastic drop in U.S. road travel and a sharp increase in the number of people who chose to stay home in 2020.
Research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s New American Driving Survey (2020) shows:
- The average number of trips for all modes of transportation dropped by 40% in April 2020.
- Daily personal car trips plunged 45%.
- The dip in travel moderated later in the year but remained below 2019 levels.
“This data demonstrates what a profound impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on our commute habits and patterns in the United States,” said Tiffany Wright, Public Affairs Director, AAA – The Auto Club Group in the Carolinas.
Daily trips for all modes of transportation fell from an average of 3.7 trips per day in 2019 to 2.2 trips in April 2020, before slightly recovering. After abruptly decreasing in April 2020, daily trips by U.S. residents rebounded somewhat in May and June and then remained at approximately 20%–25% below their 2019 levels during the second half of 2020.
Other key findings:
Daily Car trips: (as a driver or passenger) declined from 3.2 pre-pandemic to 1.8 in April 2020, before rebounding to 2.6 trips for the rest of the time period.
All travel by any mode: Daily trips in April 2020 by people living in urban areas dropped 42%, versus 25% for their rural counterparts, before leveling off to a 20%-30% reduction in both groups for the rest of the survey period.
Travel by transit, taxi, or rideshare: The proportion of people who reported making any trips by transit, taxi, or rideshare plummeted from 5.5% pre-pandemic to 1.7% in April of 2020, before leveling off at approximately 2.4% for the remainder of the year.
Commuter Travel: Work-related travel by all transportation modes dropped by 40% in April 2020, likely reflecting a mix of layoffs, job losses, and telecommuting. In the following months, commuting trips returned to approximately 26% below pre-pandemic levels among the population as a whole, likely due to increases in the proportion of Americans who were working. Commuting remained approximately 25% below pre-pandemic levels among workers on days when they worked, indicative of continued widespread telecommuting.
Staying At Home: The percentage of the population who remained in the same place all day fluctuated between 9% and 14% before the pandemic but increased to 26% in April 2020, before stabilizing at levels slightly higher than those before the pandemic for the remainder of the year.
Crash Fatalities Increased Despite Less Traffic
Despite fewer cars on the road and more people staying home, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently estimated that 38,680 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2020 — the largest projected number of fatalities since 2007. It is an increase of about 7.2 percent over 2019.
“It’s counterintuitive to see the rate of traffic deaths spike when so many of us were driving less often,” said Jake Nelson, AAA’s director of traffic safety advocacy. “As the U.S. climbs out of the COVID-19 pandemic, highway safety officials will need to double down on curbing speeding, substance-impaired driving, and failure to buckle up.”
Traffic Trends Show Improvement
While the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s annual American Driving Survey data covers the period ending December 2020, Energy Information Administration (EIA) data can help illustrate the how driving has recovered in the recently. According to implied gasoline demand data from the EIA, year-over-year driving figures dropped by as much as 45% in April 2020. However, demand figures have rebounded this year. This week’s gasoline demand measurement is back in line with pre-pandemic levels. In fact, fuel demand for the week of Independence Day set a new all-time record high, coming in 3% stronger than the holiday period in 2019.
Methodology
This study examined data from the AAA Foundation’s New American Driving Survey (New ADS), which surveys a representative sample of U.S. residents ages 16 years or older to collect detailed information about all of the travel they did on the day before the interview. The current study examines the mean daily number of trips made by U.S. residents each month among 7,873 respondents who were interviewed between July 1, 2019 (start of data collection for the New ADS) and December 31, 2020. In the New ADS, a trip refers to any travel from one place to another.
About AAA – The Auto Club Group
The Auto Club Group (ACG) is the second largest AAA club in North America with more than 14 million members across 14 U.S. states, the province of Quebec and two U.S. territories. ACG and its affiliates provide members with roadside assistance, insurance products, banking and financial services, travel offerings and more. ACG belongs to the national AAA federation with more than 62 million members in the United States and Canada. AAA’s mission is to protect and advance freedom of mobility and improve traffic safety. For more information, get the AAA Mobile app, visit AAA.com, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.