by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Bounce back to what? The Pandemic Scrambled Long-Term Trends in both directions.
Total miles driven in September on all roads and streets in the US fell by 8.6%, or by 23.4 billion vehicle miles, compared to a year earlier, to 248.3 billion miles, according to the Federal Highway Administration on Friday. While that year-over-year decline is huge by historic standards, it’s the smallest year-over-year decline since the Pandemic started.
Normally, in September, miles driven drop from the summer driving months. Last year, the drop from August to September was 5.2%. This year, the drop from August to September was only 1.2%, perhaps impacted by the calendar shift of Labor Day. Nevertheless, this lower than normal month-to-month drop means that the recovery of miles driven continues: