This chart illustrates the number of private cars in five cities over an interval of fifty years. The cities shown are London, Beijing, Tokyo, New York City and Los Angeles.
The number of private cars in London increased from 1.5 million to 3 million until 1950. After that, it stayed constant. Beijing had the fewest number of cars to start with in 1950, but in 2000, it had about 2.5 million private vehicles. While the other cities’ privately owned cars increased over a fifty-year period, Tokyo fluctuated. It reached the highest point at 2 million in 1980 and fell to 1.5 million in 2000. New York City saw a gradual increase until 1990, then it started to increase sharply. Los Angeles showed a dramatic rise. There were only 0.5 million private cars in 1950, but it reached 3 million in 2000. It also increased significantly from 2 million to 3 million between 1990 and 2000.
All the cities showed upward trends, except Tokyo. There were many more vehicles on the road at the end of the 20th century than there were in the mid-centu
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