Wednesday, February 4, 2009

America's Most Improved Commutes

I followed Streetsblog LA to this story: SF has the fourth most improved commute in America, behind Boston, Milwaukee and Cleveland.

According to Forbes Magazine,
First, we looked at how many lane miles of roads have been added to metropolitan areas since 2000 relative to the increase in traffic flow. ...

Second, we assessed improvements to public transportation systems using ridership data from the U.S. Census and American Community Survey. The more people who use public transit, the better that system meets individuals' commuting needs.
I wouldn't peg this as a particularly rigorous measurement, but it's nice they recognized Transit as an important component of regional transportation.

The numbers for San Francisco:
  • Improvement in road construction versus traffic since 2000: -0.7% (17th best)
  • Commuters using public transit in 2000: 9.4% of metro residents
  • Commuters using public transit in 2007: 13.6% (3rd best increase)
  • Traffic delays, per commuter, per year, due to congestion: 60 hours

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