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More Americans Commuting 90 Minutes or More, Insane
R. Alex Whitlock
Not that I didn't suspect it, but nothing proves what we already know like a new study. From
MSN:
Nationally, only 2 percent of workers log those kind of one-way commuting times, but their numbers are growing, according to a 2003 Census Bureau survey released Wednesday.
In New York City and Baltimore, 5.6 percent of commuters spent 90 minutes or more on the trip into work; elsewhere, 5 percent of commuters in Riverside, Calif., and 3 percent of commuters in Philadelphia and Los Angeles spent an hour-and-a-half on the one-way commute.
The average one-way commute took 24.3 minutes in 2003, two minutes more than it took in 1990, according to the survey, which included all 50 states and cities with populations of 250,000 or more.
On average, workers in New York City spent the longest traveling to work — 38 minutes. Chicago commuters came in second at 33 minutes. Commuters in Newark, N.J., Riverside, Calif., and Philadelphia rounded out the top five cities, with workers in each needing about 30 minutes.
Newark and Riverside are kind of deceptive since the commute times have more to do with New York City and Los Angeles respectively than with the townships themselves. It's interesting to note, though, that all five MSA's are World Class with rail and the whole shebang (though, from what I understand, LA's is pretty weak).
I also find it interesting to note that neither Houston nor Dallas are on this list. Houston despite being geographically larger (evil, evil "sprawl") than every city but LA and Dallas despite having an MSA that covers quite a bit of area with Fort Worth and its suburbs included. I wish I had more information cause I will feel pretty stupid if they're #6 and #7 respectively, but there's not much reason to assume that and it's impressive regardless because Houston is the only city in the top five that isn't on the list (or, in the case of NY and LA, have a suburb on the list).
Not bad for a city that is emblematic of everything wrong with cities.
On a related
MSN link, they have a map with the 22 largest bottlenecking freeways. Houston has two on the list (I10/I610 and US59/I45), both very familiar to Houstonians. I'm a bit surprised that I610/I45 isn't on there, though I guess only one particular turn is the huge problem there (I610 eastward to I45 southbound). Dallas doesn't have any on the list.
Interesting stuff.
Observations
Heh.
Mine's currently 35-60 minutes or more depending on traffic (going from Fuzzles's place, now mine as well, to UH).
As soon as they get done reconstructing 610 by the Galleria, most of I-10/610 will alleviate; the big problem now is you've got 5 lanes that drop down to 3 right before the effing GALLERIA, thus providing an opportunity for any number of numbskulls to get into the wrong lane and then try to squeeze onto 610 at the last minute.
New York is an instructive special case because of its tremendous core density. Many people (mostly single) are willing to live in tiny apartments for the privelege of remaining in NY proper; some very few can afford a reasonable amount of space in the city itself. But the vast majority of those with children move out into the suburbs and commute in by train. And the suburbs themselves are not cheap -- try realtor.com, ask for 4 bedrooms and 2500 sq.ft in Scarsdale. There is a financial gradient, with a clear price difference for every stop further out along the Metro-North or NJ Transit line.
Basically all the suburbs have decent schools, so the main tradeoff on people's mind is between house/property size and commute time.
Grrr. Don't even get me started on commuting.
45-90 minutes, one way.
Tefkam,
My commute from the Belmont Barrios to UH was roughly 45 minutes, from Belmont to UFC 45 minutes as well, from Briarwood to UCF 35 minutes to and 45 minutes on the way back. So other than my time at Gattaca and when I was living at UH and working off US59, I've almost always had the same commute despite almost never going with traffic! But in every case if I had a house and family I'd be living out closer to wherever my work was. Luckily I've never worked inside the loop like you do (not that I didn't try!).
There are a handful of places in Houston dangerous for the need to shift over very quickly. I ran into that at Briar Forest & Beltway 8. and US59 between 610 and Chimney Rock/Fountain View.
West 610 is just a mess. It was a mess when I left and a mess when I returned. I hope they get that fixed up pretty soon. With a rebuilt 610 and more traffic (hopefully) on the Westpark Tollway instead of I-10, hopefully that'll get better.
Sammler,
That's the most amazing part of NYC. Eel and I love to look at maps. I've poured over the NYC map on several occasions. The fact that unlike LA and Houston, it's just wall-to-wall people. It's impressive and, for me, nightmarish.
Having never lived in NYC I suppose I am not set up to see the appeal, but I don't (if you've got a family in tow anyhow). It seems like it'd be a really neat place to live, but the cost of living and standard of living (commute, etc.) make me wonder why so many people want to live there. In LA and Houston there are tons of jobs outside the core city. That seems less so in NYC. You've got a city and some 10 million people heading in and out every day with a few million living in closets.
I recognize that there are some jobs in NYC that you simply can't have an equivalent anywhere else. But for the vast majority, I've gotta think in their shoes I'd be more inclined to move to another large city (likely outside of the NE) that's not so much bursting at the seems. Thank heavens they have a robust train system. That'd be the only saving grace.
In Houston, the only time I worked downtown was for jury duty. I took the bus, which was actually somewhat pleasent. But it was 45 minutes (counting both car and bus time). But once you're talking an hour or more, I'm talking about finding a new job (so says the person that has taken just about any job that's come his way in the past four years).
TP,
How much longer do you have to live in Cy?
We move for real in July. But we should be able to start spending weekends in Houston (in the Village) shortly, perhaps in the next 2 weeks? That will help immeasurably.
Wonder if that's averaged over the week (i.e., total commute time divided by ( 2 (there and back) * 5 (work days)). I know some people with crazy-long commutes (from Connecticut into Boston, for example -- or from several states away into NYC), but they only do it once or twice a week. Get enough people with 600-mile commutes, though, and you'll screw up the averages :)
On Houston: I don't know at all, but might it be that lots of people in Houston live near their place of work? Unlike other (read: zoned) cities, it's not nearly as much the case that desk job = downtown job.
The most nightmarish thing about the NYC Metro housing market is how efficient it is. There are various tradeoffs, but there are no opportunities anywhere to get a "good deal". Everyone else is poring over the same set of choices and making the same tradeoffs; you can't buy something they somehow haven't discovered. (And I say this as a highly paid professional: a salaryman would suffer far more intensely.)
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