Registered vehicle count up 4% in metro region

Registered vehicle count up 4% in metro region

More than 3.8 million vehicles now are registered in the Washington DC region, a 4 percent increase since 2008, according to a report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

The report was prepared by the councils staff for its Transportation Planning Board, a panel of elected and appointed officials from across the region. One of the boards duties is tracking vehicle emissions, and the report draws on motor vehicle agency data from DC, Maryland and Virginia to determine the types and ages of vehicles registered here.

The researchers found that the number of vehicles in the Maryland suburb and Northern Virginia had increased by 4 percent since 2008, while there had been a 3 percent increase in the District.

Cars and motorcycles are more popular in DC (65 percent of the total), while SUVs account for 40 percent of the total in the suburbs. Trucks and buses are about 5 percent of the vehicle fleet in all three jurisdictions.

Also of interest, in the report was the trend away from SUVs that has been dropping from its high point of 50-50 in 2004 here to only about 40 percent presently.

The researchers also found that cars on average are a year older than they were when the last study was done in 2008. SUVs are 18 months older and heavy trucks are two years older.