Chart of the Day: Comparing Vehicle Miles Traveled Charts

• June 5, 2015

The erstwhile Scott Shaffer breaks down four ways of looking at vehicle miles travelled (VMT) data on his Tumblr — total, per capita, per vehicle, and per driver. Compare the results:

4 vmt charts

For some reason he starts talking about Monica and Russ:

VMT per capita in Minnesota has been steady or dropping since about 2004. Quick rundown of other things that happened in 2004:

  • Beyonce’s original group Destiny’s Child released their fourth studio album, Destiny Fulfilled.
  • NBC aired the tenth and final season of the white sitcom Friends, which included the Danny DeVito vehicle “The One Where the Stripper Cries.”
  • Comedy up-and-comer Amy Poehler made her debut on SNL.
  • Social media website thefacebook.com launched at select colleges and universities.

So for the entire time that we’ve lived in a post-Friends, social-media tinged society (which feels like forever, right?), driving per person has declined, on average. Driving levels haven’t been this low since 1997.

Is it just me, or did Friends kinda suck? How did they afford that apartment in New York City?

Bill Lindeke

About Bill Lindeke

Pronouns: he/him

Bill Lindeke has writing blogging about sidewalks and cities since 2005, ever since he read Jane Jacobs. He is a lecturer in Urban Studies at the University of Minnesota Geography Department, the Cityscape columnist at Minnpost, and has written multiple books on local urban history. He was born in Minneapolis, but has spent most of his time in St Paul. Check out Twitter @BillLindeke or on Facebook.