| Survey Year | Unweighted | Weighted | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trips | Days | Trip Rate | Trips | Days | Trip Rate | |
| 2019 | 329,021 | 79,556 | 4.18 ± 0.02 | 15,348,964 | 3,682,918 | 4.17 ± 0.04 |
| 2021 | 176,093 | 49,567 | 3.48 ± 0.02 | 10,670,349 | 3,748,414 | 2.85 ± 0.04 |
| 2023 | 104,611 | 28,838 | 3.68 ± 0.03 | 13,038,925 | 3,750,006 | 3.48 ± 0.05 |
| Error margins are +/- 1 standard error of the mean. | ||||||
Trip Rates
Consistent with declines in travel during the COVID-19 pandemic era, the overall trip rate in the region decreased by 32%, from 4.17 trips per person per day in 2019 to 2.82 trips per person per day in 2021. Trip rates rebounded somewhat in 2023, to 3.48 trips per person per day, but this was still about 17% below the pre-pandemic trip rate.
Relative to low-income households, higher-income households saw the largest declines in trip rates from 2019. This finding is consistent with the adoption of trip replacement behaviors like teleworking and online shopping that became more widespread during the pandemic, especially among high-income households with higher-salary office jobs. Before the pandemic, the highest-income households had the highest trip rates by a wide margin; after the pandemic, the margin had closed.
Figure 2 displays the average trip rate per person per day by trip departure hour, segmented into six time periods. The highest trip rates occurred in the evening peak hours (4:00 p.m.- 6:00 p.m.), with 2019 showing the peak at more than 1 trips per person per day. Trip rates were generally lower in the overnight hours (10:00 p.m.- 6:00 a.m.) and evening (7:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m.).
Trip rates decreased in every time period from 2019 to 2021, but the decrease was most substantial for the evening peak hour (4:00 p.m.- 6:00 p.m.). From 2021 to 2023, trip rates rebounded in every time period.
Figure 3 shows trip rates by the traveler’s age and survey year. Across all three waves of the survey, middle-aged adults had the highest trip rates, consistent with a greater propensity for this group to make shopping, escort and errand trips. Children had the lowest trip rates, but these results should be interpreted with caution: even with advancements in proxy reporting methods and data cleaning, childrens’ trip rates are historically under-reported and difficult to capture.
Trip rates declined for all age groups from 2019 to 2021 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2021 to 2023, trip rates rebounded for all age groups.
Declines and rebounds in trip rates also varied by geography. A rebound in trip rates to near pre-pandemic levels was observed in Urban Center and Agricultural geographies, but Suburban, Suburban Edge and Urban geographies all exemplified consistent declines or a lack of a rebound.