Car ownership is outstripping population growth nationally, regionally and locally.  While the nation’s population increased 80% between 1950 and 2000, car ownership increased by 383%.  Massachusetts has more than one motor vehicle for every licensed driver, two vehicles for every household, and 1.5 vehicles for every job in the state.  The increase in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) due to rising automobile ownership rates and dispersed development patterns is unsustainable and contributes to air, noise and water pollution.
 
How are we doing?

Between 1990 and 2004, the number of cars registered rose by 37.8% in the City of Boston, by 29.7% in Metro Boston, and by 37.4% in Massachusetts.  All three geographical regions had decreases in the number of car registrations between 1990 and 1994.  In Boston, registrations did not rise again until 1996.  However, Boston rebounded quickly from 1996 to 2002, passing Metro Boston and Massachusetts in the relative number of cars registered.  All three regions showed slight decreases in the number of registered vehicles in 2003, but registrations continued to rise in 2004, passing previous levels.

While living in Boston without owning a car used to be common, the percentage of households in the City of Boston without a motor vehicle has declined, from 38% in 1990 to 35% in 2000.  Car ownership rates vary widely by neighborhood, however. Only 15% of households in Metro Boston had no cars in 2000.  Between 1982 and 2002, population in the Metro Boston area grew only 6%, but motor vehicle miles traveled grew 37%, according to estimates published by the Texas Transportation Institute.  Growth in VMT, in Metro Boston and statewide, is increasing faster than the growth in population, growth in households, and the number of licensed drivers (although not as fast as the rate of increase in motor vehicle ownership).