Territory’s vehicle registration count surpasses 10,000

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The continued increase in the number of vehicles — as witnessed by many residents on the territory’s roads and highways has been re-affirmed in the latest statistical report by the Commerce Department, saying that the number of register vehicles in 2021 surpassed the 10,000 mark.

The latest data is outlined in the “Communication and Transportation” section of the American Samoa 2021 Statistical Yearbook, released Wednesday afternoon by the DOC’s Statistical Division and the Yearbook covers a wide range of data and information useful to policy makers and others — including those off island interested in American Samoa.

“Wealth accumulation and prosperity has never before been seen in terms of investments such as cars and housing,” said DOC and noted that in 2021 the number of vehicle registration has surpassed 10,000; an annual increase of 8%.

A total of 12,167 vehicles were registered in 2021 compared to 11,287 vehicles in 2020. Commercial vehicles accounted for close to 10% of registration. Bus registration dropped while rental vehicles, taxis, and cargo vehicle registration increased.

For private vehicles, the report shows 10,191 registered in 2021 compared to 9,459. For government vehicle registration — 650 in 2021 a slight increase from the 630 in 2020.

An increase in registration of rental cars and taxis — as cited in the DOC report — confirms the spike in this type of business in the territory, as residents have observed new rental car businesses and taxi services popping-up island wide.

Data in the report shows, that 254 rental cars were registered in 2021 while 213 rentals registered in 2020. For taxis, 2021 registration numbered at 241 while in 2020 there were only 182 and 118 taxi registration in 2019.

Some in the community who have shared their views with Samoa News say that the spike in the number of cars on the road, including car rentals and taxis occurred around the time that local residents started getting COVID-19 related money, such as the popular stimulus checks and other benefits — for example, the “Additional Child Tax Credit” for those who qualify.

And anytime there is an accident on the road, there is a long line of traffic waiting to move. “Too many cars on the road for a small island,” is the common comment oft received by Samoa News.

DOC also reports that there has been an almost 20% increase in the number of driver’s licenses and permits issued in 2021 from 2020.

For other “Transportation” sectors, the Yearbook summary states that incoming and outgoing vessels continued to drop in the last 5 years due to the pandemic and border closure. In 2021, over half of the incoming vessels were fishing boats followed by freighters while 24 tankers anchored and there were no cruise ships.

During the COVID pandemic, air traffic operations show in 2021 that half as many flights landed compared to 2020, and only 5,000 passengers deplaned.

COMMUNICATIONS

For the “Communication” sector, the Yearbook summary reports that the number of telephone landlines has reached 10,284 in 2021 with 552 miles of telephone cables. Cellular instruments dropped to 16,678 in 2021 while phone cards continued to drop to a little over 10,000 purchases.

Likewise, the number of e-charges also dropped by about 35% compared to 2020. Overseas calls had dramatically declined to only 247,000 calls resulting in 899,400 minutes. Both internet services and text messaging services have significantly increased this year.

Specific data breakdown provided by the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority and Bluesky Communications are cited in the Yearbook.

Meanwhile, DOC said that the 2021 Statistical Yearbook is the thirty-ninth edition of this publication, which provides statistics and trends on the territory's demographic, social, and economic characteristics from censuses, surveys, and administrative records.