In France, some figures have changed little in half a century: 84% of household transport spending (or 14% of total household expenditure) goes on cars. Similarly, over the twenty-five years from 1990 to 2014, rail’s share of passenger-kilometres rose from 9.2% to 9.5%, while the share of the metro and RER increased from 5.9% to 6%.
Let's take a closer look. In 2016, eleven cities (Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Lille and Rennes) accounted for 10% of the French population. Periodic surveys estimate the number of people entering and leaving them by road each day; the figure is slightly more than twice the resident population. Journeys between these cities and their suburbs, including commutes between home and work, accounted for only 23% of passenger-kilometres travelled by road and rail. Almost 80% of mobility occurs outside the major metropolitan areas, in peri-urban or rural areas, and is not served by rail.
On the roughly 9,000 kilometres of toll motorways and related roads, mostly outside built-up areas, the average daily distance travelled by a car was 58 km. The figure is similar on national roads. Here again we find regular journeys between home and work, shops or school, but involving medium-sized towns. Long-distance car use is marginal.
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Transport’s share
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Worldwide, 44% of oil was consumed on the roads in 2015, with heavy vehicles accounting for 41% of this total. They deserve just as much attention as cars, especially since urban logistics hands their loads on to vehicles that are lighter in tonnage but cover high mileages and pollute more than cars.
