The line graph illustrates the number of journeys made by U.S. schoolchildren using six different transportations such as walking, cycling, bus, taxi, car, and train between 1970 and 2020.
Overall, the data shows a clear shift towards motorised transport, particularly cars, taxis and trains. While walking showed some fluctuations, bus and cycling showed a steady trend over the 50-year period.
It is noticeable that car trip distances increased from roughly 20 miles to 30 miles, particularly between 1970 and 2000, while walking distances dropped significantly from around 16 miles to under 4 miles by 2000. On the contrary, by 2020, car travel had fallen slowly to about 3 km, whereas walking saw a slight increase to 6 miles. As for taxi and train, these modes remained lower in overall distances throughout the period. Taxi and train started at 5 and 15 miles respectively in 1970, and by 2020, they had peaked at around 20 and 22 miles respectively.
In contrast, the bus had the longest average trip over the 50-year period. The figure for bus travel started at roughly 28 miles in 1970 and increased steadily to 38 miles by 2020. On the other hand, cycling fell steadily from 28 miles to approximately 18 miles.