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According to the most recent U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Statistics, in 2010 Amtrak had 37 million train miles and 295 million vehicle miles traveled.  Total train vehicle miles traveled were 513 million. Domestic air carriers racked up 5,976 million vehicle miles traveled, whilst motor vehicles came in with 2,996,494 million vehicle miles traveled.  Transit (buses, commuter rail, and light rail) showed 4,400 million vehicle miles traveled.  The DOT compared vehicle miles traveled as opposed to passenger miles and seat miles, which show slightly different results. Rail accounted for .017 per cent of the total vehicle miles traveled, with Amtrak weighing in with .010 per cent. Transit had .146 per cent and domestic air had .199 per cent, leaving 99.6 per cent for highway vehicle miles traveled.  These numbers don't quite add up to 100 per cent because of rounding.   Vehicle miles traveled provide some insight into the physical impact of various modes of travel, but they don't say anything about passenger miles and seat miles.  Determining passenger miles and seat miles for commercial modes of transport is relatively easy, but these figures are harder to come by for highway vehicles because of various occupancy rates.  DOT uses a relatively sophistical sampling methodology to determine occupancy rates for highway vehicles. In FY10, using DOT numbers, Amtrak had .13 per cent of intercity passenger miles compared to 11.6 per cent for the country's domestic airlines, 1.08 per cent for transit, and 87.18 per cent for highways.  These numbers can be refined further, but doing so does not seem productive. The numbers appear to refute that argument that passenger rail, commuter rail, and transit rail have had a major impact on the nation's transport infrastructure or the per cent of passengers carried by each mode in any transport environment. I wish that it were not so.  But it is.  Most people in this country favor cars and airplanes in most locations or getting from one location to another.
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