Transportation Energy Efficiency

Check out this graph from Evolving Cities, which was shared by former Vancouver head planner Brent Toderian:


Not surprisingly, the modes that don't use fossil fuels or the electric grid are most efficient. (They also take up the least space.) But there are a couple of surprises in there:

• Motorcycles use a lot more energy than buses and trams/light rail, and are not that much better on energy use than cars
• Planes are worse than trucks or taxicabs, of course, but not as much worse as I would have thought (and, I assume, ride services like Uber and Lyft have a similar energy use)
• And cabs are bad, bad, bad!

This info is not about greenhouse gas emissions, of course: I assume planes would be the worst on that, and other differences would emerge as well. But it's still an interesting way to look at it.