FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

Census Data Tells Story of Narrowing Choices
More Americans living, working in places with few travel options

The national Census figures released today show that Americans are enduring longer commutes, and fewer of them are able to use transit, walking, or other means to avoid the drive.   The average trip to work is up more than three minutes since 1990 to 25.5 minutes, and a higher portion of commuters are driving alone to work. 

“These figures confirm that travel choices are narrowing for many Americans when it comes to the work trip,” said David Burwell, President of the Surface Transportation Policy Project.  “More people are living and working in places where they have little choice but to spend a significant part of their day driving in traffic.” 

Census population figures released earlier this year show that most population growth has occurred in metro areas, but outside central cities.  These mostly suburban areas generally have spread-out development patterns where buses and trains are less likely to be available and carpooling is inconvenient.   The number of people living in these areas grew by 18 percent.  The number of people living in the central cities, where transit, bicycling, and walking infrastructure tend to be more prevalent,  grew by just 8 percent.  Central cities are defined by the Census Bureau as the most populous cities within a metropolitan area.  

“Limited investments to create walkable, transit-friendly communities have not been able to offset the prevalence of unplanned, sprawling development that requires a car for every trip,” according to Burwell.

New national figures show that commute times are longest for Americans who live in metropolitan areas, but outside the central city. Workers in these suburban areas spend an average of 26.9 minutes traveling to work, compared with 24.9 minutes by residents in central cities.  Transit use is more than twice the national average within central cities:  10.5 percent of commuters in central cities use transit.  The Census Bureau defines central cities as the most populous cities within a metropolitan area. 

Investment in transportation choices has grown significantly over the decade, but still lags far behind federal investment in the road network:  during the 1990s, the federal government put $156 billion in federal funds into highways, while spending a total of $45 billion on transit, bicycling, and walking facilities combined.  Many Americans have limited or no access to transit.  A Bureau of Transportation Statistics survey taken in April 2002 found that 47 percent of drivers said transit could not take them where they needed to go. 

The new Census figures show a smaller portion of commuters used transit to get to work in 2000, down to 4.7 percent from 5.3 percent in 1990, with absolute numbers remaining essentially flat.  Yet over the last six years, total transit use has shot up 23 percent, outpacing the growth in driving. (see ‘Transit Growing Faster Than Driving,’ at www.transact.org). This disparity is the result of the limits of Census dataset.  The Census Journey-to-Work numbers represent only a portion of all trips via transit: less than half of all transit trips are for work.  More importantly, transit’s resurgence began in 1996 following years of decline.  Declining ridership early in the decade meant that the total ridership growth from 1990 to 2000 came to 6.4 percent, despite strong growth at the end of the decade and in 2001. 

The Surface Transportation Policy Project has compiled the newly released transportation figures from the US Census in easy-to-use, downloadable Excel documents showing metropolitan area, county, and place-level data for each state.   STPP has also posted maps and a brief trend analysis.  You can find the information available on our home page, at www.transact.org.

The Surface Transportation Policy Project is a nationwide network of hundreds of organizations, including planners, community development organizations, and advocacy groups, devoted to improving the nation’s transportation system.