The estimated average cost to passengers of travelling a mile by car (and van) and rail in both constant and current prices in pence are given in the following table. Information on passenger costs per mile for air travel is not available centrally.
Current 2006-07 prices Current 2006-07 prices 1997-98 1— 1— 18 22 1998-99 1— 1— 20 24 1999-2000 14 17 20 24 2000-01 14 16 21 25 2001-02 15 17 22 25 2002-03 15 17 24 27 2003-04 15 16 24 26 2004-05 16 17 24 26 2005-06 17 18 24 25 2006-07 17 17 2— 2— 1 Not available 2 Not yet available Notes: 1. Estimates are for the average cost faced by the transport user, net of any subsidy to the rail operators. 2. Motoring costs include expenditure on car purchase, spares, maintenance, insurance, taxation, fuel and parking, but excludes costs paid by employers. Source: Estimates for rail average costs are based on revenue collected by operators and mileage estimates published in National Rail Trends by the Office of the Rail Regulator. The car (and van) motoring costs estimates are based on household expenditure on private motoring from the Expenditure and Food Survey and the Family Expenditure Survey published in Food Spending 2006 by the Office for National Statistics and household mileage figures from the National Travel Survey (NTS) carried out on behalf of my Department. As some business mileage is included in the NTS, this methodology under estimates motoring costs.