Congestion on Europe’s roads will get worse before its gets better, according to a new report.

Despite a concerted push by governments across the EU to encourage travellers onto public transport, cars will remain the transport mode of choice for millions of residents.

The report, which was carried out on behalf of the European Commission by the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, said that the number of vehicles on Europe’s road network will continually increase until at least 2030.

The authors predict that the number of people travelling by car and motorcycles will grow from a base of 4,714 gpkm (one billion passengers carried over one kilometre) in 2005 to 5,115 by 2010.

By 2030, the number will reach 6,441.

Partly as a result of this, the analysis predicts fuel consumption by all kinds of road transport will increase by 0.8% every year until 2030.

The report also points out that cars will remain attractive despite the increasing cost of running a car and any environmental concerns that the use of cars presents.

The authors also found that corresponding to the increase in the number of cars on the roads, there will be a decline in the number of passengers per car, which is projected to fall to 2.17 per car in 2030, from 2.41 in 2005.