Sustainability in Surrey ?

Cars and Transport in Surrey

Surrey produces very few vehicles and parts for vehicles (there are some activities connected with Formula 1 companies in Woking, and Dennis manufacture fire engines in Guildford)
As far as I know, oil is neither extracted or refined in Surrey.

However:-

• Vehicle ownership in Surrey is the highest in the UK at 0.52 cars/person. (the national average is 0.42). With a population of 1.06 million, this gives an estimated 550,000 cars in Surrey (source)
• There are 60 miles of motorway in Surrey (M23, M25, M3) This is the highest in any UK county.
• Assuming an average of 10,000 miles/year for each car, at a fuel efficiency of 50 miles/gallon, the average consumption of fuel of each car is about 200 gallons/year. (= 4 barrels, as 1 barrel = 50 UK gallons. So the total annual consumption in Surrey = 2.2 million barrels) (This figure for fuel consumption is very generous - source)
• If 1 litre costs 80p, 1 gallon costs £4.00, 200 gallons costs £800 [= average fuel bill] and the total fuel bill for private cars in Surrey = £440 million
• If 1 gallon = 7.2 lbs weight of petrol, 200 gallons = 0.64 tons, and the total consumption in Surrey = 350,000 tons of fuel used as petrol/diesel.
• The average annual mileage of a petrol car in Britain in 1999/2001 was 8700 miles, compared with 13,100 miles for diesel cars. The average annual mileage of a company car was 21,300 miles, compared with 8100 miles for privately owned cars. (Transport 2000 from National Travel Survey)
• Sixty per cent of cars on the road in Britain in 1999/2001 had only one occupant. For commuting and business use the rate was 84 per cent. (Transport 2000 from National Travel Survey)
• Energy consumption by transport was 34 per cent of all UK energy use in 2000. Source: DTLR 2001
• A small increase in car usage in Surrey could lead to gridlock ? (10% ?) Which would be the first town to reach gridlock ?
• If fuel prices rise, many people will not be able to afford to drive
• Train links into London are excellent from most parts of Surrey, although there is severe overcrowding on many trains as they near London, and the rail system has insufficient capacity, and there is only one circular route, from Guildford via Dorking to Gatwick
• Bus services are satisfactory, but suffer from the traffic congestion
• If you stand on a bridge over the M25 and count the vehicles going by, you can estimate the average value of each vehicle is £5,000, so that, when 200 vehicles have gone by, that is £1 million worth of vehicles.
  200 cars can easily go past in a minute, in both directions.
• Flows in excess of 200,000 vehicles per day have been recorded on the Surrey section of the M25 (source). By my calculation, the value of these vehicles would be £1,000 million (and the new cost very much higher)

In Surrey, we have:

• 1.06 million people
• 0.52 cars/person (550,000 total)
• the cars use 350,000 tons petrol

A quiet day on the M25 (A24 crossing)

A Surrey train