The US Transportation Research Board released their third edition of "Commuting in America."  It's full of facts about commuting, including the impact of baby boomers hitting retirement, new immigrants, and working from home. 

 

http://www.trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?id=6699

 

Date: Oct. 16, 2006

Contacts: Patrice Pages, Media Relations Officer

Christian Dobbins, Media Relations Assistant

Office of News and Public Information

202-334-2138; e-mail <[email protected]>

 

NEW REPORT PROVIDES IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF RECENT COMMUTING TRENDS;

AGING BABY BOOMERS, IMMIGRANTS WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON COMMUTING

 

WASHINGTON -- Commuting trends are changing as baby boomers near retirement age at the same time that a large immigrant population has joined the U.S. labor force, according to Commuting in

America III, the latest decadal review of the nation's commuting patterns authored by transportation consultant Alan Pisarski and published by the Transportation Research Board.

 

While the personal vehicle is still the most common way to go to work, transit and carpooling are increasing in many areas, and more

commuters are traveling from suburb to suburb rather than from suburbs to central cities, the report says.

 

"One of the most significant changes will probably come from newly arrived immigrants," said Pisarski. "Unlike most native-born Americans or immigrants who have been in the U.S. for more than five years, many new immigrants either carpool, bike, walk, or use public transportation for their daily commute."

 

During the coming decades, many baby boomers -- who will start turning 65 in 2010 -- will leave the workplace and stop commuting. At the same time, the latest projections from the Census Bureau show that the number of younger people entering the work force will increase; but these new workers will not outnumber those who will retire. Almost 20 million people ages 18 to 65 are expected to enter the work force during the years 2000 to 2010, followed by only about 12 million over the two following decades. But such projections may underestimate the actual number of Americans who will start working, because it is difficult to project how many immigrants will arrive and enter the work force and how many baby boomers will keep working after age 65, the report says.

 

Immigration in the past decade has increased far more than expected, the report says. The latest census revealed that there are about 8 million more immigrants in the country than the 1990 census projected. Because of this influx, the nation's 30-year decline in population growth reversed sharply in the 1990s, returning to the growth rates of the 1970s.

 

This "immigration bubble" is changing the nature of the work force and overall commuting patterns, the report says. Although immigrants make up less than 14 percent of all workers, they represent about 40 percent of those in large carpools. The percentage is particularly high among Hispanic immigrants, who are largely responsible for the recent growth in carpooling after 30 years of decline. Recent immigrants also are

more likely to walk or bike to work, or to use public transportation.

 

Another trend that could significantly affect commuting in the future is the increasing number of people who work from home, the report says. The latest census data shows that 4 million Americans now work from home -- more than those who walk to work -- and that a growing number of those over age 55 are doing so.

 

The general direction of commutes also has shifted, the report points out.

 

From 1990 to 2000, about 64 percent of the growth in commuting in metropolitan areas was from suburb to suburb, while the traditional commute from suburbs to a central city grew by only 14 percent. As more employers move out of cities to be closer to skilled suburban workers, the suburbs now account for the majority of job destinations.

 

The latest census data also show that, compared with previous decades, more Americans are leaving for work between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., are commuting for longer time periods – between 60 and 90

minutes – and are leaving their home county to work in a nearby county.

 

Other findings in the report include:

• The number of new solo drivers grew by almost 13 million in the 1990s.

• The number of workers with commutes lasting more than 60 minutes grew by almost 50 percent

between 1990 and 2000.

• Men make up the majority of early-morning commuters, from midnight to 7:30 a.m. Women tend to

commute later and make up the majority of commuters after around 7:30 a.m.

• The number of Americans who commute from the city to the suburbs exceeds the number of those

commuting from suburbs to the city and accounts for 9 percent of commuting activity. From 1990 to

2000, the number of Americans commuting from the city to the suburbs increased by 20 percent.

• The percentage of African-American households without vehicles dropped from 31 percent of

households to 24 percent from 1990 to 2000.

• While the population over age 65 grew by only 12 percent from 1990 to 2000, workers over 65

increased by 21 percent.

• 30 million vehicles were added to households from 1990 to 2000, and 13 million of those were

added to households that already had two or more vehicles.

• Only about 4 percent of workers live in households with no vehicle.

 

"In the 1970s the arrival of the baby boom generation on the work scene changed the entire dynamic of commuting trends," said Pisarski, who has now authored three reports on this topic. "That era is coming to a close. The needs of Americans – more affluent, more involved in global issues, more free to live and work when and where they want – are creating new challenges that should be recognized and addressed if Americans’ commuting experience is to improve."

 

The National Academies comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter.

 

The Transportation Research Board is a division of the Research Council. The report was sponsored by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program and the Transit Cooperative Research Program, both managed by

the Transportation Research Board.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Copies of Commuting in America III are available from the Transportation Research Board; tel. 202-334-3213 or on

the Internet at http://www.TRB.org. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information

 

Link to Commuting in the USA facts (pdf): http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/CIAIIIfacts.pdf

 

 

The Meaning of Commuting in America III

By Alan E. Pisarski

 

What does Commuting in America III tell us, aside from a deluge of statistics on commuting behavior? It helps us recognize that work travel is an economic phenomenon and a social phenomenon of the first

order, as well as simply a transportation topic. It introduces a new stage in commuting patterns as the explosive baby boom era recedes and questions arise of who and where will our new workers be.

 

FROM AN ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE:

The surge in the percentage of people working outside their county of residence is tremendously important from the economic perspective. It has several facets and many implications.

 

#1. People are moving to exurban regions to obtain desirable housing at an affordable price tag.

#2. Rural workers are attracted to suburban job opportunities as those jobs move toward the periphery of

the metropolitan areas.

#3. Despite congestion, workers have access to a vast array of jobs distributed across increasingly large

metropolitan areas.

 

Inversely, employers have access to employees from an immense commuter-shed of adjacent counties increasing their productivity. (One-third of the national population resides in 12 areas over 5 million, creating massive aggregations of skilled workers.) This adds up to workers increasingly able to live where they want and work where they want.

 

FROM A SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE:

#1. The substantial increases in African-American households with access to vehicles says multitudes among rising opportunity in this country. But it also tells us that there is a long way to go before anything like parity arrives between minorities and the general population.

#2. As their time in the U.S. increases, immigrant populations transition through the ways to travel to work – demonstrating the power of opportunity. Those here less than five years are heavily oriented to walking, biking, transit and most of all carpooling as their form of access to jobs. These often play the role of socialization engines. After ten or fifteen years, one sees the transition to the automobile and something like mainstream patterns.

#3 Will aging boomers stay in the work force longer helping solve our worker shortages. This may be a key to our future.

 

FROM A TRANSPORTATION PERSPECTIVE:

#1. The shares of commuters leaving home before 6 a.m. tells us a great deal about the weaknesses in our transportation system’s services. It is just one symptom of people being forced to adjust behavior to avoid heavy congestion in the peak periods.

#2. The growth in people working at home can be characterized as the quiet revolution. Over the years, the decline in farm workers masked the rising number of metropolitan workers who worked at home. The

Commuting in America series has documented that it is the only “mode” of transportation, along with driving alone, that has grown throughout the entire period of the baby boom working years. It has now

surpassed walking as a way to get to work and is third behind carpooling in most metropolitan areas.

 

Given the importance of working at home to the older work force, it can be a major force in the future.

 

This report reflects a society that is both dynamic and productive. The genus Commuter Americanus is a very resilient creature; one that is coping with inadequate transportation systems and services as best it can. We are a challenged affluent society.

 

This brief was produced by Alan E. Pisarski, Author, Commuting in America III.

 

Copies of Commuting in America III are available from the Transportation Research Board; tel. 202-334-3213 or on

the Internet at http://www.TRB.org. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information

 

Link to Commuting in the USA facts (pdf): http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/CIAIIIfacts.pdf

 

 

US in a jam over what to do about traffic:

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1018/p03s03-usgn.htm

Flight of the Early Birds

The New Commuters

Otis White / Governing Magazine

 

If you have a daughter in college who’s thinking about careers, here’s a thought: Advise her to become a transportation planner. Why would that be a good career choice? Because just about everything we thought we knew about how people move through cities is changing. Her advantage: When she graduates, she won’t have to unlearn anything.

 

 

http://governing.com/noteprev.htm

 

An interesting take on the dilemma states like Ohio are facing with the increasing demand for better transportation systems and more transportation options as opposed to the shrinking funding pool.

 

Legislators in a race to keep up with transportation needs

by Dan Olson, Minnesota Public Radio

December 26, 2006

 

Metaphors abound to describe the political hazards surrounding the transportation issues Minnesota lawmakers face in the upcoming session. A quagmire. A tarpit. A pool of political quicksand. A broad coalition of voices agrees the state is years behind in funding roads and transit. But agreement on a catch up plan is elusive since lawmakers and taxpayers don't seem to be of one mind about what to do.

 

St. Paul, Minn. — Matt Dawson's mind is made up. With the exception of using one of those one hour rental car services a couple times a week Dawson has dropped out of the car culture.

 

Dawson, a 28-year old Minneapolis resident, relies on public buses for most of his commuting to and from his various theater jobs, and he's all in favor of more transit.

 

More at:

 

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/12/14/previewtranspo/

Failure to spend transportation money cost Va. $25 million

By TOM HOLDEN, The Virginian-Pilot

© December 28, 2006

 

When lawmakers failed last fall to agree on a long-range plan for Virginia's worsening transportation troubles, they left behind an intriguing sum: $339 million in unspent funds.

 

The money had been promised for road and rail projects on the condition that legislators reach an agreement. When they return to the issue in January, they could be in for a rude surprise.

 

Full story at:

 

http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=116727&ran=186848

One early effort will come from Del. Mark L. Cole, R-Fredericksburg, who wants in HB1724 to tie the issuing of building occupancy permits to transportation with impact fees. The bill calls for two-thirds of such fees to end up in the transportation trust fund and a third to remain locally. The fee amount varies with building value, but is generally capped at $20,000 per structure.

 

Now THAT is a fascinating concept for funding transportation improvements -- especially the non-highway kind! The fact that it would be done by the state makes it less prone to create inequities between one city or another.

 

Cincinnati's auto-dependency and how to improve

http://www.urbancincy.com/2008/08/cincinnatis-auto-dependency-and-how-to.html

 

Cincinnatians, like many people in America, are stuck in their cars. We were a nation that developed in a dense, walkable fashion (see East Coast and most Midwestern cities). As the industrial revolution took hold cities increasingly became places synonymous with disease, overcrowding, pollution, and overall poor living conditions. Throw in a few skewed federal policies (The American Dream, Eisenhower Interstate System, Urban Renewal) and you have yourself a rapidly changed nation.

 

So over the years we have continually built our cities to be more like machines rather than the living/breathing places they ought to be. All of a sudden public right-of-ways were no longer the public domain, but rather the cleared land for fast/efficient vehicular travel. Established neighborhoods made way for new interstates and 'The American Dream' of everyone owning their own suburban dwelling, away from the troubles of the inner-city, became firmly implanted in the minds of every American.

 

In 2000, over 81% of commuters in the Cincinnati region's 5 largest counties (Hamilton, Butler, Clermont, Warren, Kenton) got to their job by driving alone. Public Transportation accounted for a mere 3.2% which wasn't much higher than the 2.7% that worked from home. Hamilton County predictably finished as the most diversified county in terms of means of commuting, but even its numbers were nothing to write home about.

 

I expect that these numbers will look a little different with the 2010 Census data, but I also don't expect it to be dramatically different. As oil prices have soared, inner-city school districts improved, crime plummeted, and overall quality of life improved...our public transportation system has lagged behind. Similarly things like carpooling/ridesharing and walking/biking, that can see improved participation through relatively inexpensive measures, have also not seen much change/improvement over the past 8-10 years.

 

Part of the answer could be the proposed streetcar system, an improved bike/scooter infrastructure, possibly a light rail system, expanded bus service with new/innovative programs (real-time arrival information) that make the system easier to use. All of these must be done and more. Another item that I propose is that businesses/institutions offer financial incentives for their employees to bike/walk, bus (transit), or carpool to work.

 

This can be done relatively cheaply and could potentially have a major pay off. As we continue to improve our city/region we can not afford to forget about our transportation system and habits. We can only be as strong as our weakest link, and this is an area that has long been ignored.

 

Read my full proposal for a Walk/Bike, Bus, Carpool to Work incentive program HERE!

 

Breakdown of the Cincinnati region's 5 largest counties - Graph by UrbanCincy, data from U.S. Census

Transit Use Hit Five-Decade High in 2008 as Gas Prices Rose

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

 

The San Francisco subway. Riders stayed with the nation’s transit systems even after fuel prices fell in the second half of last year.

 

Published: March 9, 2009

 

More people rode the nation’s public buses, subways and commuter trains last year than in any year since 1956, when the federal government created the Interstate highway system, according to a report by a transit association.

 

Americans took nearly 10.7 billion rides on public transportation in 2008, a 4 percent increase over the previous year, according to the report, by the American Public Transportation Association, a nonprofit organization that represents transit systems. The report was to be released on Monday in Washington at the association’s annual conference.

 

More at:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/us/09transit.html?ref=us

Transit outlook grimmer after record '08

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-03-09-transit_N.htm

By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY

 

The number of people riding buses and trains hit a 52-year high in 2008 as skyrocketing gas prices and a faltering economy pushed riders toward less expensive travel.

Public transit ridership last year increased 4% to 10.7 billion rides, according to a report released Monday by the American Public Transportation Association.

 

More at link above:

 

March 9, 2009

Transit Use Hit Five-Decade High in 2008 as Gas Prices Rose

 

By MICHAEL COOPER

More people rode the nation’s public buses, subways and commuter trains last year than in any year since 1956, when the federal government created the Interstate highway system, according to a report by a transit association.

 

Americans took nearly 10.7 billion rides on public transportation in 2008, a 4 percent increase over the previous year, according to the report, by the American Public Transportation Association, a nonprofit organization that represents transit systems. The report was to be released on Monday in Washington at the association’s annual conference.

 

More at:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/us/09transit.html?ref=us

 

But some systems that raised fares last year, including those in Houston and Cincinnati, lost riders, which could be an ominous sign for the many systems that are raising fares and cutting service this year.

 

Haha, leave it to the Times to gauge the nations transit habits on Cincy's SINGLE transit option.

 

We are the last city that should be mentioned in that article!