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Review of 2003 Survey of Motor Vehicles Use Estimates

The purpose of this paper is to provide users with the results of an investigation into the impact of stratification changes that took place between the conduct of the 2003 and 2004 Surveys of Motor Vehicle Use (SMVU).

In releasing the 2004 SMVU estimates, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) identified that the stratification change, introduced as part of the 2004 sample design, may have caused some concerns with the coherence of the 2003 estimates. As a result, the ABS decided not to publish the 2003 estimates in the 2004 publication and indicated to users that an investigation would occur and advise of the outcome at a later date.

Following a comprehensive review of the survey's methodology, new stratums were introduced for the 2004 survey to improve the quality of the survey outputs. The main difference between the stratification used in 2004 and that used in 2003 was that more emphasis was placed on age of vehicle in 2004. Area of operation was dropped as a stratification variable for all vehicle types.

To investigate concerns regarding coherence, the ABS compiled new estimates from the 2003 reference year survey data using the stratification groups applied to the 2004 reference year.

A comparison of the two sets of estimates was undertaken. The differences were small and did not indicate any systemic quality concern with the 2003 stratification and estimation process. For example, the original estimate for total kilometres travelled for all vehicles was 201,497 million and the estimate following post-stratification was 200,076 million, a difference of 0.7%. For this reason, the ABS does not consider it necessary to re-release the 2003 SMVU estimates. The official 2003 estimates are those contained in the publication Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia, 2003 (cat. no. 9208.0).

For the information of users, the following summary tables present the 2003 post-stratified estimates.

	2000	2001	2002	2003(a)	2004
Total kilometres travelled (million)
Passenger vehicles	141 519	143 925	144 676	150 505	147 728
Motor cycles	1 135	1 448	1 681	1 371	1 478
Light commercial vehicles	27 829	30 728	31 349	32 670	34 007
Rigid trucks	6 536	6 627	7 080	7 730	7 639
Articulated trucks	5 578	5 321	5 425	5 716	6 013
Non-freight carrying trucks	^220	^267	224	202	221
Buses	1 776	1 835	1 775	1 882	1 968
Total	184 593	190 152	192 209	200 076	199 055
Number of vehicles(b) (number)
Passenger vehicles	9 711 320	9 861 807	10 194 637	10 393 312	10 654 328
Motor cycles	337 793	349 465	367 258	378 631	392 648
Light commercial vehicles	1 696 631	1 719 654	1 810 071	1 896 498	1 940 180
Rigid trucks	346 628	332 102	341 651	346 380	358 704
Articulated trucks	61 117	61 502	61 519	62 888	66 197
Non-freight carrying trucks	18 714	18 980	17 504	17 837	17 616
Buses	55 805	55 078	56 754	59 819	61 728
Total	12 228 008	12 398 588	12 849 393	13 155 365	13 491 401
Average kilometres travelled(c) ('000)
Passenger vehicles	14.6	14.6	14.2	14.5	13.9
Motor cycles	3.4	4.1	4.6	3.6	3.8
Light commercial vehicles	16.4	17.9	17.3	17.2	17.5
Rigid trucks	18.9	20.0	20.7	22.3	21.3
Articulated trucks	91.3	86.5	88.2	90.9	90.8
Non-freight carrying trucks	^11.8	14.1	12.8	11.3	12.5
Buses	31.8	33.3	31.3	31.5	31.9
Total	15.1	15.3	15.0	15.2	14.8
Total fuel consumption (million litres)
Passenger vehicles	16 838	16 436	16 401	17 195	16 937
Motor cycles	70	83	100	83	^92
Light commercial vehicles	3 723	4 186	4 145	4 271	4 471
Rigid trucks	1 795	1 855	2 041	2 183	2 123
Articulated trucks	2 904	2 824	2 922	3 091	3 305
Non-freight carrying trucks	^57	67	58	52	53
Buses	466	498	497	517	524
Total	25 853	25 948	26 164	27 391	27 505
Average rate of fuel consumption(d) (litres per 100 kilometres)
Passenger vehicles	11.9	11.4	11.3	11.4	11.5
Motor cycles	6.1	5.7	6.0	6.1	6.3
Light commercial vehicles	13.4	13.6	13.2	13.1	13.1
Rigid trucks	27.5	28.0	28.8	28.2	27.8
Articulated trucks	52.1	53.1	53.9	54.1	55.0
Non-freight carrying trucks	25.9	25.0	26.0	25.7	24.0
Buses	26.2	27.1	28.0	27.5	26.6
Total	14.0	13.6	13.6	13.7	13.8

	2000	2001	2002	2003(a)	2004
Total laden business kilometres travelled (million)
Light commercial vehicles	13 120	13 889	14 054	15 326	15 844
Rigid trucks	4 537	4 690	4 830	5 387	5 322
Articulated trucks	4 071	3 933	4 012	4 298	4 367
Total freight vehicles	21 728	22 512	22 896	25 011	25 533
Average laden business kilometres travelled(b) ('000)
Light commercial vehicles	14.7	15.3	14.0	14.8	14.4
Rigid trucks	16.1	16.3	16.2	17.5	16.8
Articulated trucks	72.8	69.6	70.4	74.5	71.4
Total freight vehicles	17.7	18.0	16.8	17.9	17.2
Total tonne-kilometres travelled (million)
Light commercial vehicles	5 695	5 649	5 624	6 701	6 634
Rigid trucks	25 168	24 881	28 337	30 572	29 752
Articulated trucks	103 515	101 892	106 977	112 423	121 282
Total freight vehicles	134 378	132 422	140 938	149 695	157 668
Average tonne-kilometres travelled(c) (million)
Light commercial vehicles	6.4	6.2	5.6	6.5	6.0
Rigid trucks	89.1	86.5	95.1	99.5	93.7
Articulated trucks	1 852.0	1 804.4	1 876.3	1 947.7	1 983.3
Total freight vehicles	109.3	105.8	103.5	107.0	106.4
Total tonnes carried (million)
Light commercial vehicles	103	103	115	122	120
Rigid trucks	711	683	802	712	807
Articulated trucks	655	697	747	714	769
Total freight vehicles	1 469	1 482	1 664	1 548	1 696
Average load carried per trip(d) (kilograms)
Light commercial vehicles	377	326	353	399	362
Rigid trucks	5 854	5 632	6 130	5 835	6 068
Articulated trucks	22 615	23 639	23 749	24 497	23 921
Total freight vehicles	3 471	3 180	3 404	4 566	3 421

	2000	2001	2002	2003(a)	2004
Total kilometres travelled (million)
New South Wales	51 088	58 553	60 792	61 876	58 875
Victoria	54 500	50 817	51 459	55 314	52 583
Queensland	36 746	38 538	36 690	37 944	41 643
South Australia	13 153	15 085	14 855	14 858	15 241
Western Australia	19 875	18 610	19 160	20 882	21 324
Tasmania	4 376	3 979	4 433	4 574	4 561
Northern Territory	1 627	1 522	1 712	1 560	1 594
Australian Capital Territory	3 228	3 048	3 108	3 067	3 234
Australia	184 593	190 152	192 209	200 076	199 055
Number of vehicles(b) (number)
New South Wales	3 663 210	3 745 732	3 859 620	3 942 136	4 059 983
Victoria	3 232 708	3 235 515	3 442 573	3 515 441	3 538 822
Queensland	2 340 267	2 365 530	2 459 307	2 530 630	2 665 200
South Australia	1 021 386	1 051 115	1 051 720	1 072 877	1 082 691
Western Australia	1 340 533	1 365 714	1 392 316	1 446 038	1 471 497
Tasmania	332 110	329 963	334 259	334 882	350 976
Northern Territory	102 846	101 159	103 155	103 524	106 651
Australian Capital Territory	194 948	203 859	206 444	209 838	215 581
Australia	12 228 008	12 398 588	12 849 393	13 155 365	13 491 401
Average kilometres travelled(c) ('000)
New South Wales	13.9	15.6	15.8	15.7	14.5
Victoria	16.9	15.7	14.9	15.7	14.9
Queensland	15.7	16.3	14.9	15.0	15.6
South Australia	12.9	14.4	14.1	13.8	14.1
Western Australia	14.8	13.6	13.8	14.4	14.5
Tasmania	13.2	12.1	13.3	13.7	13.0
Northern Territory	15.8	15.0	16.6	15.1	14.9
Australian Capital Territory	16.6	15.0	15.1	14.6	15.0
Australia	15.1	15.3	15.0	15.2	14.8