The charts illustrate the monthly average distance travelled by British residents according to purpose between 1990 and 2010, alongside the changing distribution of vehicle types over the same period.
Overall, transport and delivery consistently accounted for by far the greatest share of kilometres travelled, despite a decline after 2000. In terms of vehicle usage, cars remained overwhelmingly dominant; however, their proportion fell marginally while trucks gained a noticeably larger share.
In 1990, the average distance covered for transport and delivery stood at approximately 6,500 kilometres per month. This rose sharply to a peak of around 7,800 kilometres by 2000, before dropping to roughly 6,000 kilometres by 2010. Personal travel followed a broadly similar, albeit less pronounced, trajectory, starting at about 3,200 kilometres, peaking at approximately 3,600-3,700 kilometres around 2000, and finishing at just over 3,000 kilometres. Commuting, by contrast, registered the lowest figures throughout, beginning at roughly 1,900 kilometres and increasing only modestly to about 2,300 kilometres by the end of the period.
The pie charts reveal a clear dominance of cars in both years, although their share declined slightly from 63% in 1990 to 59% in 2010. Trucks saw the most significant growth, rising from 25% to 30%. The remaining vehicle types – buses, motorcycles and other vehicles – together represented a relatively small and slightly diminishing proportion, falling from 12% to 11%. Notably, buses and motorcycles each accounted for only 2-4% of vehicles across the period.
In summary, while the hierarchy of travel purposes remained stable, with transport and delivery far exceeding commuting and personal use, the composition of vehicles showed a modest but clear shift away from cars towards a greater reliance on trucks.