I'm calling it an accomplishment that I managed to go through all of 2010 without driving to work a single time. Even better I walked home a few times. I'm hoping by summer I can ride the bike in and back and have a gas free day every once in a while.

 

Same here.  I took my bike every day for the past 2 years, even in the deep snow.  My commute is only 2 miles round trip.... so, i'm not really roughing it.

My office is only half a mile from where I live (both in downtown Akron), so I walk far more often than I drive.  I'll drive when I have something heavy to bring in or anticipate having something heavy to take home, or when the weather is ugly and the temptation to just say "F it" wins out.

Where do you live vs where do you work?

I live in Willowick and work in downtown, about 16 miles.

You walked 16 miles??

You walked 16 miles??

Yeah, it took a few hours, but it was good exercise.

Damn....

I didn't vote because I use a combination of biking, driving, and bus. The means depends on a variety of factors: weather (I chose not to bike or take the bus during yesterday's downpour), whether it's game day, (my internship is near the Q and the Jake, and consequently, cost of parking increases), whether there's special occasions at work (haven't figured out how to bring a sportscoat without it becoming very wrinkly), :lol: and whether I need to run an errand or do something else on the way to/from my commute.

 

Commute to downtown on the bike is about 20-25 minutes and 5 and a half miles. Driving, 9 minutes [at least during non rush-hour], I'll time the rush hour today], 6 miles. Bus and walking, about 40 minutes.

How do you get around town?

 

http://ireport.cnn.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=563970

I have not tried RTA for my commute to my new office yet.  Getting from Lorain County to Carnegie near E40th involves a transfer, presumably on Public Square or at STJTC.  Everything is set up to get people to Public Square, which worked well for me for 13 years.

I have moved from Bexley to 5xNW and can now BMX to work. Driving actually takes longer because I can't use the cut-throughs that I do on the BMX. It rox.

Westerville to the east side of Downtown - fine now, going to be a clustercuss when they work on the 71-670-70 interchanges.

Interesting data from the latest U.S. Census......(Source: USA Today)

 

•Driving solo. When people are not working, they don't carpool. The share of people ages 16 to 64 who worked dropped significantly in all but one of the 50 largest metropolitan areas (New Orleans). That has helped push the share of people driving to work alone from 76% in 2006 to 76.6% in 2010. Ride-sharing is down a full percentage point, to 9.7%.

 

The share of households without a car rose again to 9.1% vs. 8.8% in 2006. Households with two or more cars dropped from 58% to 57.1%.

 

Read more at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-09-22/Census-marriage-divorce-recession-education-lifestyle/50506164/1

 

And this from today's Columbus Dispatch:

 

Fewer local commuters go it alone

82% in metro area drive to work, down from 83% in 2009

 

We still love our cars, but the latest census figures show fewer central Ohio commuters are using them to get to work.

 

Columbus was among the few big metro areas where the number of people walking, carpooling, taking the bus or telecommuting grew faster last year than the number of people driving solo to their jobs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

More than 82 percent of us still drive cars to and from the job. But that’s down from more than 83 percent in 2009, and it translates into a few thousand cars off the road even after growth in the work force is factored in.

 

Still, the census estimates released today indicate that the commute for workers in the Columbus metro area lengthened by 12 seconds last year, from 22 minutes and 30 seconds to 22 minutes and 42 seconds

Read more at:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/09/22/fewer-local-commuters-go-it-alone.html

if the drivers do not sabotage it and this bus-time bus tracking idea works out it will certainly help my commutes:

 

 

 

Updated 01/11/2012 06:12 PM

 

 

S.I. Buses Now Equipped With 'Bus Time' Tracking Service

 

By: Tina Redwine

 

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday launched its “Bus Time” service on Staten Island, allowing commuters to follow their buses in real time via smartphone or computer thanks to GPS technology. NY1’s Tina Redwine filed the following report.

 

It's called “Bus Time,” and on Wednesday the Metropolitan Transportation Authority rolled it out on every bus that runs on Staten Island.

 

“For the people with some of the longest commute times in the country, this is a really good day,” said City Councilman James Oddo.

 

Bus Time uses GPS to let riders track where each bus is in real time. Riders with smartphones or computers can get updated arrival information on the MTA website.

 

Regular cell phone users can text the ID number posted at each stop and get a text back saying how many stops away the bus is.

 

“As we know, the buses here on Staten Island are our subway system, and when we saw the MTA introduce real time on the subway system a couple of years ago, we thought that was great, but we wanted to something here and here we are,” said State Senator Diane Savino.

 

After seeing the program, Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro talked to the MTA about installing display screens at some bus shelters to get the information to riders who don't have access to technology.

 

“It would cost $3,000 per bus stop, so I volunteered to pay for it. So I'm going to give them $200,000 right now,” said Molinaro.

 

New MTA Chairman and CEO Joseph Lhota said Bus Time will help deal with a frequent complaint of riders.

 

“It's also going to help out bunching, you know when buses sometimes get too close together? We’ll be able to monitor that and be to tell them we need to spread them out a little bit more so there’s more on a consistent basis,” said Lhota.

 

Riders NY1 spoke with were impressed.

 

“I was shocked to see that,” said one.

 

“It’s going to allow me, like, to manage my time easier, you know,” said another.

 

“That’s absolutely wonderful. It’s about time they done something especially for Staten Island. We’re the forgotten borough,” said a third.

 

MTA officials say they will evaluate the program on Staten Island for two months before deciding which borough gets Bus Time next.

 

The agency insists it will be on all city buses by the end of next year.

 

more video here:

http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/transit/153980/s-i--buses-now-equipped-with--bus-time--tracking-service

 

 

“That’s absolutely wonderful. It’s about time they done something especially for Staten Island. We’re the forgotten borough,” said a third.

 

 

Well yeah -- because Staten Island should be in Jersey! ;)

I've been wishing for a system like this in Akron for a while now.  I don't know why a system like this couldn't be deployed for every bus system in the country.  Being able to get bus info on smartphones would very likely be an incredible help in expanding the appeal of bus systems.

 

Akron also needs prepaid fare cards (preferably renewable ones that can be recharged online via credit card and/or PayPal).  The need for exact change is ridiculous.

^^^The improvements to the MTA's bus system in Manhattan over the past few years have been totally awesome.  Happy the MTA's spreading it to SI too.

 

^Akron buses only accept cash fare?

 

It totally blows my mind how little standardization there is among transit agency fare collection systems.  The marginal costs of providing updated fare collection to a small agency's system if it piggybacked on a larger system's order would be pretty darn palatable.

It totally blows my mind how little standardization there is among transit agency fare collection systems.  The marginal costs of providing updated fare collection to a small agency's system if it piggybacked on a larger system's order would be pretty darn palatable.

 

I'm pretty sure that's a good 'ol boy thing. make tons of money by designing and manufacturing a new custom system each time

Part of it is also that these companies know that people often don't have the proper change and would rather pay an extra $.75 by slipping in a third single rather than get off, find change at a local drug store, then go back to the bus. It's just a scam to increase revenue

^^^The improvements to the MTA's bus system in Manhattan over the past few years have been totally awesome.  Happy the MTA's spreading it to SI too.

 

Have you been on the M60, M42, M34, M5 or M104?

I took the M60 in from LaGuardia this past summer on the day when it was 103F.  It took about 90 minutes to get to Columbia, a distance of about 8 miles.  The air conditioning held up, luckily, as we had about 700 people on that bus. 

Part of it is also that these companies know that people often don't have the proper change and would rather pay an extra $.75 by slipping in a third single rather than get off, find change at a local drug store, then go back to the bus. It's just a scam to increase revenue

 

Blah, like bars that make every drink price end in $X.25.

I took the M60 in from LaGuardia this past summer on the day when it was 103F.  It took about 90 minutes to get to Columbia, a distance of about 8 miles.  The air conditioning held up, luckily, as we had about 700 people on that bus. 

 

that bus can be so inconsistent and they refuse to put extended buses on this route - a route where people bring luggage - which makes no sense.  Many times I've taken the bus and there is an M60 right behind.

^^^The improvements to the MTA's bus system in Manhattan over the past few years have been totally awesome.  Happy the MTA's spreading it to SI too.

 

Have you been on the M60, M42, M34, M5 or M104?

 

I took the M34 a few weeks ago.  Camera policed bus lanes, arrival info at stations, low floor buses.  It made a cross-town journey from Penn Station actually...pleasant.  The 1st/2nd Ave buses are awesome too.  Haven't been on the M42 or M5 in a couple years.  Never been on M104 or M60. 

I'm moving to a new job near University Circle in a few weeks and I'm kindof frustrated that I'll have to drive to work. There's just no reasonable option to get from Lakeshore Blvd down to UC on RTA. I'll take the bike when the weather is good, and on the days when I have no other option I can take the 39F all the way to downtown and then take the Healthline back across town, but considering how long that'll take, I think I'll be driving a lot.

Where on Lakeshore Blvd?

 

Don't one of these routes work:  the #28 branch on East 222nd (http://www.riderta.com/pdf/28.pdf) or the #30 from Lakeshore/185th (http://www.riderta.com/pdf/30-39-39F.pdf) both to Windermere and transfer to the HealthLine?

Yeah, I spent a while looking at my options over the weekend and it does look like I've got a few after all. Trying to get directions from Google Maps wasn't very helpful though since it assumes that I'll walk a little slower than my grandmother to the bus stop and so it doesn't want to give me directions to a stop that's further than a quarter mile.

I submitted 'other' since I'm multimodal.  In the mornings I'm dropped off by car at the Clinic by the new research lab.  I walk down 105th to the Healthline station and take that to the E. 9th station which is essentially at the front door of where I work.  In the evenings I either take the Red Line Rapid or Healthline, depending on whether I have class, to University Circle station.  If the 32 eastbound is there and close to it's departure time, I'll hop on that, but mostly I'll walk up to Cedar and on to a little bit past Coventry.  It's a nice 20 minute walk to end my day and reflect.

I got a new job 9 months ago and my commute is one extreme or the other.  Either I'm working from home, commuting from my bedroom to my home office; or I'm flying to a client's location.  The first 8 months I was travelling to Seattle every other week (1964 miles and 4-5 hours, each way), working from home the weeks in between.

I have a 20-25 minute commute to work via the bus at 6:30. I leave work at 6 (5 on Saturdays) and take a 5-10 minute train ride to the gym by me, then walk half a mile home unless i'm going out.

 

Get a lot of kindling done that way

Get a lot of kindling done that way

 

LOL...took me a second.  I'm a camper, so Kindling has an entirely different meaning for me.

I now live on Court St in Cincy's CBD and I work on 4th and Main.  My commute is 6 minutes walking or 1 minute by bike. 

 

I really miss my 45 minute walk through OTR from my old place in Clifton Heights, but being able to go home on my lunch break and cook for myself is a HUGE perk. 

Get a lot of kindling done that way

 

LOL...took me a second.  I'm a camper, so Kindling has an entirely different meaning for me.

 

TBid's actually been picking up flood debris on the way home, amassing a nice stack in the process.

My numbers have gotten more accurate in the 3 years Ive lived and worked at the same places

 

By bike (95% of the time....even winter) 12 minutes or 6 minutes going 25-30mph in the centerlane of chicago's Michigan ave.

 

By bus 18 minutes. Buses arrive every minute. Yep, 60+ buses per hour at the stop near my apartment

 

By skateboard. Usually 15 minutes. The city requires me to be on the sidewalk but because I have a longboard I can be on most streets. But downtown I'm restricted to sidewalks.  I only do this when I go to work early because there's less pedestrians.

 

Walking. 25 minutes

 

 

I wake up at 7:40. In the office by 8:25, leaving a couple minutes to get a breakfast in the cafe downstairs.

Judging by your time and 60+ bus/hr estimates, I'd guess you live at..... hmmmm.... clark/division?

 

Clark/dickens here and i mean literally on it

Michigan Avenue and Oak. Close!  Though I'm looking at Wells and Division in a new building...which I'll be taking the red line since my office is moving a few blocks south near Jackson.

 

You're in a great area btw. Tons of great places along Clark and right by the zoo / lake

Even American Drivers Like Mass Transit More Than They Think

ERIC JAFFE9:31 AM ET

 

In recent years, transportation experts have found that if drivers get a free taste of mass transit, many of them find they actually want a bit more. The approach has worked, albeit on a limited trial basis, in developed cities around the world: from Kyoto to Leeds to greater Copenhagen. Transit ridership in Châteauroux jumped after the mayor made the system free. Swedish commuters who rode free transit for a month found themselves more satisfied with it than they thought they'd be.

 

Now we can even add American drivers to the mix. In an upcoming issue of the journal Transport Policy, a research duo reports that nearly 30 percent of regular car commuters in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, gave up their full-time parking permits immediately after a brief free-transit trial, with most downgrading to an occasional permit and a few making a full switch to transit. About 25 percent had stuck with the change six months later.

 

The test, done by Maya Abou-Zeid of the American University of Beirut and Moshe Ben-Akiva of M.I.T., was conducted with M.I.T. employees in the fall of 2008. Sixty-seven university workers, all with full-time parking permits, agreed to commute by transit for a few days during one trial week and complete follow-up surveys. The participants were generally quite set in their driving ways: 47-years-old and part of a two-car household, on average, with eight never having ridden transit to work.

 

Read more at:  http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/12/even-american-drivers-mass-transit-more-they-think/4142/#

For 5 years, I drove 1+ hour each way from the Canton/Massillon area to Solon. I moved downtown earlier this year, so it's about 30 minutes to Solon now.

Columbus commuters top state in time stuck in traffic

By  Randy Ludlow

The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday February 5, 2013 2:44 PM

 

Columbus-area commuters lead the state in the amount of time, and expense, spent crawling in backed-up traffic.

 

The typical rush-hour area commuter spent an extra 40 hours, and about $60 on extra fuel, on the road due to traffic congestion in 2011, according to an annual study by Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

 

Those figures gave Columbus commuters the unwanted distinction of spending more time sitting in traffic than in any of Ohio’s major urban areas. Cincinnatians spent 37 hours sitting in traffic; Cleveland residents wasted 31 hours.

 

The 40 unwanted hours in traffic jams placed Columbus-area commuting delays two hours above the national average and 25th among 101 urban areas in Texas A&M’s Urban Mobility Report. Columbus ranks as the 36th-largest metro area in the report as calculated by the researchers.

 

Read more at: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/02/05/commute-times-study.html

Columbus commuters top state in time stuck in traffic

By  Randy Ludlow

The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday February 5, 2013 2:44 PM

 

Columbus-area commuters lead the state in the amount of time, and expense, spent crawling in backed-up traffic.

 

The typical rush-hour area commuter spent an extra 40 hours, and about $60 on extra fuel, on the road due to traffic congestion in 2011, according to an annual study by Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

 

Those figures gave Columbus commuters the unwanted distinction of spending more time sitting in traffic than in any of Ohio’s major urban areas. Cincinnatians spent 37 hours sitting in traffic; Cleveland residents wasted 31 hours.

 

The 40 unwanted hours in traffic jams placed Columbus-area commuting delays two hours above the national average and 25th among 101 urban areas in Texas A&M’s Urban Mobility Report. Columbus ranks as the 36th-largest metro area in the report as calculated by the researchers.

 

Read more at: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/02/05/commute-times-study.html

Other Ohio cities in the study not mentioned by the Dispatch:

 

Toledo - 26 hours

Dayton - 24 hours

Akron - 23 hours

im driving to kent from chardon every day in a mustang...this winter, when i leave in the morning, i fear i will never make it back.

Cleveland's the largest metro area of the 3, and yet has the shortest avg commute time, according to the survey... The difference is obvious: Cleveland has the best mass transit, esp. the only rail rapid transit system in the state -- Cincy's streetcars soon to arrive.  But the actual way transit has impacted Cleveland is less obvious.... Even though metro Cleveland sprawls and continues to sprawl outward like the other 2 Cs, many key built up close-in Cleveland city areas and suburbs that grew-up around good transit: Shaker Heights, Shaker Sq., Cleve Hts, Lakewood, are still viable even after significant population losses in recent decades -- which btw recent stats are showing are slowing.  These relatively densely populated areas are compact and close in (inside the beltway freeways), and is probably why Cleveland's circumferential freeway belt is far smaller than both Columbus' and Cincy's.

 

Don't get me wrong, greater Cleveland does indeed have far-flung sprawl-burbs like Medina, Solon, Avon Lake, etc., but they are counterbalanced by a still viable, albeit shrinking inner-ring urbanized suburban network that is more accessible to mass transit....

 

... not to mention the fact that Cleveland is smartly reinvigorating city neighborhoods near the 4 rail and 1 BRT (Health Line) such as Midtown, Univ. Circle/Uptown, Ohio City, Det. Shoreway, Shaker Sq. and the Flats, plus a few others… Cleveland’s also finally developing modern TOD which should also hold down commute times as well.

 

Cleveland's the largest metro area of the 3, and yet has the shortest avg commute time, according to the survey... The difference is obvious: Cleveland has the best mass transit, esp. the only rail rapid transit system in the state -- Cincy's streetcars soon to arrive.  But the actual way transit has impacted Cleveland is less obvious.... Even though metro Cleveland sprawls and continues to sprawl outward like the other 2 Cs, many key built up close-in Cleveland city areas and suburbs that grew-up around good transit: Shaker Heights, Shaker Sq., Cleve Hts, Lakewood, are still viable even after significant population losses in recent decades -- which btw recent stats are showing are slowing.  These relatively densely populated areas are compact and close in (inside the beltway freeways), and is probably why Cleveland's circumferential freeway belt is far smaller than both Columbus' and Cincy's.

 

Don't get me wrong, greater Cleveland does indeed have far-flung sprawl-burbs like Medina, Solon, Avon Lake, etc., but they are counterbalanced by a still viable, albeit shrinking inner-ring urbanized suburban network that is more accessible to mass transit....

 

... not to mention the fact that Cleveland is smartly reinvigorating city neighborhoods near the 4 rail and 1 BRT (Health Line) such as Midtown, Univ. Circle/Uptown, Ohio City, Det. Shoreway, Shaker Sq. and the Flats, plus a few others… Cleveland’s also finally developing modern TOD which should also hold down commute times as well.

 

 

And more good news....

2/6/2013 10:00:00 AM   

 

Transit saved 865 million hours of traffic congestion in 2011, TTI report says

 

Public transportation helped reduce traffic congestion by saving 865 million hours of travel on the nation's highways, according to the Texas Transportation Institute's (TTI) 2012 Urban Mobility Report.

 

Released yesterday, the report examined road congestion in 498 U.S. cities in 2011. TTI found that had there not been public transportation service available in the areas studied, congestion costs for 2011 would have risen to $142 billion, up from $121 billion in the previous year. Plus, an additional 450 million gallons of fuel would have been consumed.

 

"This report demonstrates how important public transportation is, not only as one of the solutions to reduce traffic congestion, but also in reducing fuel use and travel delays," said American Public Transportation Association President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Melaniphy in a prepared statement.

 

Read more at: http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=35099

Thanks to a new job, and new home in the new year my commute is now a 2.7 mile walk each way. I've done it every work day except that first day where everyone was freaking out about windchill to the point that my mother called and texted me to not do it. I'll definitely start riding my bike as we warm up into spring, or if I decide to buy a cheap second bike that I won't feel guilty leaving wet and grimy.

Don't get me wrong, greater Cleveland does indeed have far-flung sprawl-burbs like Medina, Solon, Avon Lake, etc., but they are counterbalanced by a still viable, albeit shrinking inner-ring urbanized suburban network that is more accessible to mass transit....

 

Drive north on I-71 into Greater Cleveland. The traffic gets pretty heavy any day of the week and throughout the day from Strongsville north to I-480. And then it dies way down on I-71 north of I-480. It does stay heavy during rush hours. I'm sure this is due to a combination of factors -- one less lane in each direction on I-71 south of I-480, the presence of a parallel, high-capacity rail transit line north of I-480 and the general availability of more dense, walkable, transit-friendly neighborhoods north of I-480 that reduce the need for many vehicle-miles traveled.

 

im driving to kent from chardon every day in a mustang...this winter, when i leave in the morning, i fear i will never make it back.

 

I feel your pain. I drive a Hyundai Genesis turbo coupe with 200 hp, wide summer tires, and lots of torque. I do not drive this car much in winter, and then only when the roads are dry (I can easily spin out on a wet road in summer if I accelerate too fast and turn at the same time). So, last night I drove my black sports coupe over beautifully dry roads to a restaurant last night in Middleburg Heights. While in the restaurant, it started to snow. And then harder, and harder. I urged my dinner companion to eat faster so we could get out of there. But it was too late. I kept the car in a higher gear and barely touched the accelerator, but it didn't stop me from fishtailing down the road at a mere 15 mph. It took me an hour to get home (took me 15 minutes to get to the restaurant!), and that was even when I could get up to 40 mph on some stretched of salted road.

Cleveland's the largest metro area of the 3, and yet has the shortest avg commute time, according to the survey... The difference is obvious: Cleveland has the best mass transit, esp. the only rail rapid transit system in the state...

Sorry to disagree, but although Cleveland's a dynamic urban contender in Ohio, it's not the state's largest "metro" (unless one's  referring to "area")--Ohio's largest MSA is Cincinnati.  However, Cleveland's combined public transportation-system is  one that all other Ohio cities need be proud of and emulate.

OK, here we go again with the Cleveland-Akron CMSA vs the Cincinnati-Hamilton CMSA debate. Let's not, please.

That report is flawed or has been updated. Cincinnati  never had 51 hours in delays per person back in 2000. I have been following the study for years. Traffic seems the same to me since 2000. I get all over the metro with my company(pest control).

What US & Ohio cities have the most non-car commuters? NYC is #1, Cleveland #16, Cincinnati #23 and Columbus #36.

 

Full list is at: http://grist.org/climate-energy/the-u-s-cities-where-the-fewest-commuters-get-to-work-by-car/#.UnG6_HJFqFI.twitter

Cincy does pretty well without rail, and without county funding for SORTA. In fact, Detroit and Cincy are at the top of the pack for non-rail cities, with the exception of Honolulu. (All three of these cities are building rail now, if I'm not mistaken.)

Nice job CLE, ranking third in the Midwest!  We can catch up to Minneapolis in transit, but we've got a long way to go in terms of bike commuting (they're at triple Chicago's rate in that category!)