Central Puget Sound High Occupancy Vehicle - Person miles traveled
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Measure of person miles traveled on the HOV network in the central Puget Sound region
Person miles traveled
Person miles traveled is the cumulative number of miles traveled by all people on a specified commute corridor. Analysis of Central Puget Sound region HOV person miles traveled on the HOV network includes both carpools and transit. Person miles traveled are calculated using vehicle miles traveled, vehicle classification, and average vehicle occupancy. For details on the methodology used to calculate HOV person miles traveled, refer to WSDOT's Handbook for Corridor Capacity Evaluation (PDF 5.9MB).
Sources: WSDOT Transportation Safety and Systems Analysis Division and WSDOT TRACFLOW (https://tracflow.wsdot.wa.gov/)
Performance highlights
Average daily person miles traveled increased in 2023 compared to 2022 due to the ongoing recovery of traffic volume in the wake of COVID-19, but were still lower than pre-pandemic levels. Roughly 6.4 million person miles were traveled on the central Puget Sound region freeway HOV network on average weekdays, 6.7% more than 6.0 million in 2022. More than half of HOV person miles (3.5 million) were traveled on I-5 in 2023.
In 2022, average daily person miles traveled increased compared to 2021 due to the ongoing recovery of traffic volume in the wake of COVID-19. However, average daily person miles traveled in 2022 were still lower than the pre-pandemic levels. Roughly 6.0 million person miles were traveled on the central Puget Sound region freeway HOV network on an average weekday, 8.6% more than 2021. More than half (3.3 million person miles) of these HOV person miles were traveled on I-5.
In 2021, average daily person miles traveled increased compared to 2021 due to the recovery of traffic volume in the wake of COVID-19. However, average daily person miles traveled in 2021 were still lower than the pre-pandemic levels. Roughly 5.5 million person miles were traveled on the central Puget Sound region freeway HOV network on an average weekday, 28.7% more than 2020. More than half (3.0 million person miles) of these HOV person miles were traveled on I-5.
In 2020, due to the statewide response to COVID-19 there was significant reduction in the person miles traveled compared to the previous year. Roughly 4.3 million person miles were traveled on the central Puget Sound region freeway HOV network on an average weekday, 43.9% less than in 2019. More than half (2.4 million person miles) of these HOV person miles were traveled on I-5.