There are more cars than ever on the roads

Scottish Executive transport statistics showed that the figure for 2004 was up by 2% on 2003 and 19% on 1994 - with motorways showing the biggest increase.

More people used public transport, with a 1% rise in local bus journeys and a 10% increase in ScotRail passengers.

A record number of people travelled through Scotland's airports, with Prestwick showing the largest rise and ferry journeys also increased.

The statistics showed that there were 2.4 million licensed vehicles in Scotland last year.

That figure was up 3% on 2003 and 29% on 1994, and was the highest ever recorded.

These figures reveal the true story of Scottish ministers' failure to tackle traffic and pollution in the last six years Mark Ruskell Green Party MSP

Almost 263,000 new vehicles were registered in 2004, a slight increase on the previous year - and another new record.

The traffic volume of 42.7 billion vehicle kilometres was also at its highest ever level.

The largest rise over the past decade was on the motorways, where the figure increased by 47%.

The number of deaths and injuries on the roads fell to its lowest level in more than 50 years.

There were 307 people killed in accidents last year, 2,741 people seriously injured and 15,356 people slightly injured.

The number of passengers using Prestwick Airport has soared

The number of passengers boarding local bus services rose for the fifth consecutive year.

The 1% increase took the figure to almost 450 million - but that was still 14% lower than in 1994.

However, the rise in ScotRail passengers to 68.7 million represented a 40% increase over the last decade.

Glasgow Central was the country's busiest train station, with almost 23 million people travelling on national rail tickets. The closest competitor was Edinburgh Waverley, with more than 12 million.

Almost 22.6 million passengers used Scotland's airports, a rise of 7% on 2003 and up 91% on 1994.

Vast majority

Numbers increased by between 5% and 7% at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, while Prestwick's figure soared by 16%.

The number of ferry passengers stood at more than 5.9 million, up by 3% on 2003, with the vast majority using Caledonian MacBrayne services.

The Scottish Green Party MSP Mark Ruskell said: "These figures reveal the true story of Scottish ministers' failure to tackle traffic and pollution in the last six years.

"It is appalling that ministers talk about the need to tackle climate change, yet are not prepared to tackle the growth in transport emissions, the fastest growing cause of climate change pollution."

Only by giving people a real choice to using their cars will we see any reduction in the volume of traffic on our road network Tavish Scott Transport Minister

The party said the number of bus journeys was 15% below its level a decade earlier and that the proportion of people using trains to get to work remained "very low".

A Green spokesman also pointed to the increase in air travel, which he said was "the fastest-growing form of climate pollution".

Transport Minister Tavish Scott said record investment levels were making improvements, but that the increasing use of roads remained the biggest challenge.

"A 2% increase in road traffic since 2003 demonstrates the continuing need to combat congestion by offering people attractive and reliable public transport alternatives," he said.