This Chart Highlights North American 🛻 Car Culture

What we’re showing:

The popularity of different transportation types in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, calculated by modal share.

This data is sourced from ‘The ABC of Mobility’ by Rafael Prieto-Curiel and Juan P. Ospina, published in Environmental International (Volume 185, 2024), accessed through ScienceDirect.

What is “Modal Share” and how was it calculated?

The authors of this study gathered data through travel surveys. They determined the primary mode of transportation a person employed for each trip they took during a typical weekday. This is called modal share. Data from 800 cities from 61 countries was collected for this study.

Key Takeaways

• In the U.S. & Canada, people heavily rely on cars to get around, no matter the size of the city. There are some exceptions: New York, Toronto, and smaller college towns across the U.S.
• North America’s share of public transport and active mobility (walking & biking) is the lowest amongst all surveyed regions by a significant amount.
• In Asia, South America, and Europe, regional differences are apparent, but at least one in four trips in every region occurs on public transport.