Albuquerque Morning Journal

4,900,000,000 AUTO
PASSENGERS IN 1920
FOUR TIMES THE TRAFFIC
OF STEAM RAILROADS
Motor Truck Tonnage of 1,200,000,000 Equal to Half
the Amount of Rail Freight.
Automobile passenger travel near the five billion mark in 1920.
Fully 4,932,000,000 persons were carried by motor car during this period, as compared with the 1,234,222,889 revenue passengers of the railroads.
Motor trucks hauled 1,200,000,000 tons of freight, or nearly half the amount carried by rail lines, which totalled 2,504,000,000 tons.

Not Competitive With Other Transportation.
The growth of the automobile business has not been competitive with the railroads, however. Much of it is directly tributary, as in bringing both passengers and freight from farm to train, and in suburban service to cities. Another large field for highways transport when not directly tributary to railroad is the travel from point to point over short haul distances where there is no other means of communication.
Both Railroads and Automobiles Gained,
The motor car passenger figures increased 400,000,000 during 1920, due to the gain in motor vehicle registration. At the same time the railroads showed a gain of 60,000,000 revenue passengers.
The motor car passenger figures are based on the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads registration of approximately 8,200,000 passenger cars (deduction allowed for state not registering trucks separately).
From this as a basis the passengers are estimated at 2 per car per day with an average use of 300 days per year. The railroad figures are from the Interstate Commerce Commission.