Really Fun Graphics Friday - Transportation Patterns

[wawa]

These are some of the most fun visualizations I've seen lately that really hammer home how the US is such a insanely wild outlier compared to EVERY OTHER PLACE ON THE GLOBE on how we think about transportation. 

It's a tri-axis graphic showing work trip modes in terms of Transit vs. Active Modes (walk/bike) vs. Car for a 800 world wide cities, and the ENTIRE UNITED STATES is just piled down in the car corner.  Even NYC is only out of that corner by a bit compared to the rest of the globe.



we're so special.  so so special. 

Lots more interactive visualizations:
citiesmoving.com/visualizations/

academic paper of background: 
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024001272?via%3Dihub

[redheadbaker]

I was curious, so I looked up how long it would take to take public transit, bike, or walk to work (6.5 miles away). It would take longer to take public transit than to bike!

Public transit: 51 minutes
Bike: 41 minutes
Walk: 2 hrs 8 minutes

[wawa]

Mar 29, 2024 16:02:17 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

I was curious, so I looked up how long it would take to take public transit, bike, or walk to work (6.5 miles away). It would take longer to take public transit than to bike!

Public transit: 51 minutes
Bike: 41 minutes
Walk: 2 hrs 8 minutes

transit in so many places is shameful.  Though with our land use patterns (i.e. sprawl) it's incredibly difficult to have an efficient system.

I luckily am in a situation right now that my house and work are both along a pretty well served corridor, so even though I'm way out in the burbs I just have to drive a little bit to a park and ride and have multiple express bus options that get me t the office in only a few min more than driving.  

[StrawberryBlondie]

Mar 29, 2024 16:02:17 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

I was curious, so I looked up how long it would take to take public transit, bike, or walk to work (6.5 miles away). It would take longer to take public transit than to bike!

Public transit: 51 minutes
Bike: 41 minutes
Walk: 2 hrs 8 minutes

This is the same for me to my office. I live in the same suburb I work in. It's a 10-15 minute drive and the transit route is about 3 hrs with 2 bus changes.

[Jalapeñomel]

This is pretty cool.

Coincidentally, DH and I were talking about what I would need to do to take the MN to work everyday.

If I could put an electric bike on it, I could feasibly do it most months out of the year, I think.

[mrsukyankee]

Even in England, if you aren't in a major city/town, you are pretty much screwed in terms of public transport. They keep making bus routes less and less frequent and are closing down train routes (yes, we're going backwards, thanks to the Tories). I'm fortunate that I can take a bus or a bus/tube combo to get into work. If I cycled, it would take little time but cycling in N. London scares me too much (very narrow streets and idiots in cars). My H cycles to work from early Mar to early Nov (unless he's staying after work to go out with friends).

[katfco]

I live in a large city in the midwest and driving to work takes 25 minutes. Public transit would take over 3 hours--including over a mile of walking on either end just to get to a bus stop.

[Susie]

That's really interesting.

I just looked at what google maps thinks of my commute options:

Drive:  13 min, 6.4 mi
Walk:  2h37m, 7.0 mi
Bike:  38 min, 7.7 mi
Public transit:  [can't calculate]

Sigh.

[VillainV]

I live about 9 miles from work, and have the luxury of being able to park very close to my office. My only public transport option would be a park-and-ride about halfway between home and work that would get me about 1/2 mile from work (I’d have to walk the rest). This would turn a 16-minute commute into about a 45-60 minute commute and would only eliminate about half of my drive (while turning the other half into a route more than twice as long, because of the circuitous route, in a vehicle that uses probably five times as much gas and doesn’t regularly have enough passengers to offset the extra footprint).

And this is the best access to any kind of public transit I’ve had in my twenty-year career at over 10 locations.

[aurora]

Even though it took quite a bit longer than driving, I loved it when I worked in a place I could bike to. I just felt so much more alert and generally good on those days when I biked.

Now biking isn't feasible but my bus only takes a little longer than driving and is much less stressful. I wish everyone had similar public transit options.

[basilosaurus]

Even if there's a theoretical walking or biking calculation it doesn't account for whether that's a viable safe option. We're pathetically bad at public transport but also with having sidewalks or bike lanes.

I walked the 1km to my vet once and was so terrified I begged a ride from another pet parent for the return. This was not a very busy road, but no shoulder, and though there was plenty of room for trucks whizzing by to give space, they just didn't.

I'm probably more aware of these things given where I travel and live and how I'm usually a pedestrian. I notice things like really broken sidewalks, if they even exist, and how accessible they are. If there are safe crosswalks. If people obey traffic laws. Are there even laws let alone enforcement of them?

I love coming to Singapore because it's so easy to walk, bike, ride the bus or metro. I get food delivery by ebike. Sure it's expensive and extremely big brother, but at least I won't fall to my death in a sidewalk pothole portal to hell.

[underwaterrhymes]

This is super interesting but also sad. I live 48 miles from where I work. I only go in once a week.

It takes me about 50 minutes to drive it (provided I leave at 6:30 in the morning before traffic gets too heavy and leave before 3 when it gets heavy in the afternoons).

Public transportation is not an option. It would take around 4 hours each way.

Biking would take 5 hours and is also not an option.



I didn’t even look at walking because walking 96 miles RT daily is physically imposible.

[wanderingback]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing. It would be interesting to see another one for things like daily activities like going to the grocery store. I think the US would obviously still be very car heavy but places like nyc would swing more towards walk/bike and public transportation.

I have to take public transportation to work for all my multiple jobs. But on the days I don’t work sometimes I’ll go 2-4 days without getting on public transportation cause I walk everywhere and don’t have to leave walkable distances for most of my needs.

[pixy0stix]

Yet another thread where people justify driving over any other mode. I'd like one thread where people problem solve and talk themselves into changing their mode of transportation.

[aurora]

I didn't mention that we bought our house (i.e., chose its location) with my ability to take public transportation in mind. The ease of driving certainly contributes to different choices than if it were harder or more expensive.

[SusanBAnthony]

We couldn't accomplish all 4 people in the household walking/biking/public transporting (because of both the distance some of us need to go, and the complete lack of public transport options in those areas), but we prioritized as many household members as possible using transit or active modes.  


That ended up being 2 of 4 people using a mix of transit and active depending on weather (heavily transit in MN winters), and 2 driving. We did that by choosing a smaller older house on a smaller lot, close to the city center, in an area where there is good bus service and lots of close by stuff that we walk/bike to.

I don't know how to get better than that because the 2 drivers (I am one of them) have fairly specialized jobs in opposite directions.  Hybrid WFH is about the best that I think we will ever be able to do to reduce that.  I don't know how to change that other than deciding to completely change careers so we can take transit. 

Another aspect is that because of the death of pensions, people change jobs.  Most people don't want to move houses/apartments every time they change jobs.  Before we were driving in opposite directions, we were driving in close to the same direction, but we own a house so we can't feasibly move towards a new job.  

wanderingback makes a great point about other daily transportation.  I would rather walk everywhere and love living a block from the library, restaurants, a thrift store, etc.  I don't have good enough wifi right now to dive into the graphics, so maybe this is in there- how if US driving split between work, day to day stuff that is not work (errands, driving to social things, etc), and road trips?  

[msmerymac]

Mar 30, 2024 10:07:22 GMT -5 aurora said:

I didn't mention that we bought our house (i.e., chose its location) with my ability to take public transportation in mind. The ease of driving certainly contributes to different choices than if it were harder or more expensive.

We bought our house considering sidewalks and public transit for sure.

We both work from home, but my husband just mentioned starting to bike once a month into his company’s closest office, which is 20+ miles away, in another suburb, in a huge office park. I just ask that he does it during daylight. Honestly, during rush hour, driving on the highway to an from his office can take over an hour. He can do the bike ride in under 2 each way, and that’s only because he doesn’t do it regularly.

I know someone who used to bike from West Hollywood to Santa Clarita daily for work. 🤷‍♀️

[VillainV]

Mar 30, 2024 9:39:22 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Yet another thread where people justify driving over any other mode. I'd like one thread where people problem solve and talk themselves into changing their mode of transportation.

I would love to do this. But the reality is that in many parts of America, other options just don’t exist. In a perfect world, we would design communities that would promote walking, biking, and public transport. But the people who designed the communities most of us currently live in completely screwed us over by forcing sprawl.

I’d love to know if anyone has suggestions on how we can improve our current lack of transportation options.

[wanderingback]

Does anyone carpool? I think that’s really the only other realistic option for people who have no public transportation. Because no one is going to bike 2 hours on the highway for example every single day.

When I was married to my ex, one of his coworkers lived next door so they would carpool (teachers).

My parents live about 1.5 hours from a major city and there is no public transportation in their suburb that gets you to the major city, but a lot of people do work in the major city. There are vans for people to carpool that pick people up about half way, so some people do carpool from my parents suburb and then to the vans that take them to the city.

It’s a systems problem. We need more side walks, bike lanes and public transportation.

[wanderingback]

Another thing about public transportation here is that it is not functional for people with disabilities who have mobility problems/need an elevator or escalator. I live near a major stop and the elevator is out of service for repairs for 7 months. The stop for my work the escalator is out of service for repairs for 6 months. This is happening all over the city. f you need to use an elevator at my stop you’re supposed to go 2 stops further, get off the subway and then take a bus back down. If I were disabled I would drive or ride share/taxi instead of doing that if I had the means. It’s so heartbreaking seeing elderly people especially struggle to walk up the stairs at my stop on a daily basis.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Mar 30, 2024 16:42:10 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Does anyone carpool? I think that’s really the only other realistic option for people who have no public transportation. Because no one is going to bike 2 hours on the highway for example every single day.

I do! Well, I mostly WFH but DH and I work out of the same building so when we both have to go into the office on the same day, we try really hard to go together. Exception, of course, for example if he has meetings till 5 so I'd need to leave by 3:30 for @-relates reasons or something.

[basilosaurus]

Mar 30, 2024 9:39:22 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Yet another thread where people justify driving over any other mode. I'd like one thread where people problem solve and talk themselves into changing their mode of transportation.

I agree generally that we love to justify our driving habits. But I also think it's worth noting that there are often no alternatives due to lack of infrastructure.

When I worked in the Denver area I could be sent to Pueblo one day and Cheyenne the next, so there's no moving close to work option. There's a bigger issue about work requirements and not about personal desires. As I said upthread, it can be very dangerous to walk or bike, so no matter the map estimates, that's not always a risk I want to take. 

I blame the voters who refuse funding public options more than I blame the drivers just trying to do what they can to get to work timely. 

[wawa]

Mar 30, 2024 16:42:10 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Does anyone carpool? I think that’s really the only other realistic option for people who have no public transportation. Because no one is going to bike 2 hours on the highway for example every single day.

When I was married to my ex, one of his coworkers lived next door so they would carpool (teachers).

My parents live about 1.5 hours from a major city and there is no public transportation in their suburb that gets you to the major city, but a lot of people do work in the major city. There are vans for people to carpool that pick people up about half way, so some people do carpool from my parents suburb and then to the vans that take them to the city.

It’s a systems problem. We need more side walks, bike lanes and public transportation.

And better land use patterns. We should be building retail mixed into residential, not grocery stores out route in 746 business with miles of nothing but single family homes off a bunch of cul-de-sacs.

Which is entirely local policies and very able to be influenced by grassroots groups showing up to meetings in matching shirts. REALLY TRULY. Try it

[SusanBAnthony]

Mar 30, 2024 16:46:49 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Another thing about public transportation here is that it is not functional for people with disabilities who have mobility problems/need an elevator or escalator. I live near a major stop and the elevator is out of service for repairs for 7 months. The stop for my work the escalator is out of service for repairs for 6 months. This is happening all over the city. f you need to use an elevator at my stop you’re supposed to go 2 stops further, get off the subway and then take a bus back down. If I were disabled I would drive or ride share/taxi instead of doing that if I had the means. It’s so heartbreaking seeing elderly people especially struggle to walk up the stairs at my stop on a daily basis.

We were in Europe last year and this was a striking difference.

We saw tons of blind people riding the trains, and a train employee escorted them through the station and on/off trains. Every station had functional elevators, and they had contraptions to load people in wheelchairs on and off trains (like a little lift). If you are traveling with a carer the carer rides for free. Etc.

We are very very far from that even in the cities with the best transport in the US.

[pixy0stix]

Mar 30, 2024 14:27:12 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Mar 30, 2024 9:39:22 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Yet another thread where people justify driving over any other mode. I'd like one thread where people problem solve and talk themselves into changing their mode of transportation.

I would love to do this. But the reality is that in many parts of America, other options just don’t exist. In a perfect world, we would design communities that would promote walking, biking, and public transport. But the people who designed the communities most of us currently live in completely screwed us over by forcing sprawl.

I’d love to know if anyone has suggestions on how we can improve our current lack of transportation options.

But you are choosing to live in those neighborhoods. You are choosing to not show up to your local government and support better infrastructure. You chose your job. You chose your lifestyle. It's not the planners or developers. In general, they build what people want and will buy.

As for suggestions, open up Wawa's post history. Just show up to a few government meetings and you can influence infrastructure.

[wanderingback]

Apr 1, 2024 7:46:38 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Mar 30, 2024 14:27:12 GMT -5 VillainV said:

I would love to do this. But the reality is that in many parts of America, other options just don’t exist. In a perfect world, we would design communities that would promote walking, biking, and public transport. But the people who designed the communities most of us currently live in completely screwed us over by forcing sprawl.

I’d love to know if anyone has suggestions on how we can improve our current lack of transportation options.

But you are choosing to live in those neighborhoods. You are choosing to not show up to your local government and support better infrastructure. You chose your job. You chose your lifestyle. It's not the planners or developers. In general, they build what people want and will buy.

As for suggestions, open up Wawa's post history. Just show up to a few government meetings and you can influence infrastructure.

Do you or wawa have good examples of bringing public transport to areas where there is none? Would love to share with my mom. Like I said above both my parents live in an area without public transport. My mom is active in her neighborhood and has done stuff with local government but it hasn’t really gone anywhere in the past 20 years. She is a healthy 70 year old and lives in a retirement village now and sometimes they coordinate to take residents to restaurants, shopping, etc. But there is still no bus to get people to neighboring suburbs or the metro city 1.5 hours away. Would love suggestions to pass on to her of examples where communities added public transportation.

It is not realistic that everyone in a household is going to live walking/biking distance to their place of employment (especially with the high rent prices these days), so bringing useable public transportation to people is a solution.

[scm1011]

I'm currently mostly at home but being forced back to the office in June. Here are my commute options (6 miles):

Drive: 22 minutes
Bike: 36 minutes
Public Transport: 58 minutes

I did the commute for a decade pre-covid and used public transport 90% of the time, and biked the other 9.9%. I have driven in maybe 2 or 3 times. When I head back it will likely more a 60/40 Public Transport/Bike split because our bike infrastructure has improved in the last few years. Even though driving is clearly the quickest, I much prefer the other options so I can read or get exercise. 

[VillainV]

Apr 1, 2024 7:46:38 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Mar 30, 2024 14:27:12 GMT -5 VillainV said:

I would love to do this. But the reality is that in many parts of America, other options just don’t exist. In a perfect world, we would design communities that would promote walking, biking, and public transport. But the people who designed the communities most of us currently live in completely screwed us over by forcing sprawl.

I’d love to know if anyone has suggestions on how we can improve our current lack of transportation options.

But you are choosing to live in those neighborhoods. You are choosing to not show up to your local government and support better infrastructure. You chose your job. You chose your lifestyle. It's not the planners or developers. In general, they build what people want and will buy.

As for suggestions, open up Wawa's post history. Just show up to a few government meetings and you can influence infrastructure.

Well….I don’t choose my job, and I don’t choose where I live. In theory I have some latitude around which specific house I live in, but I’m not paid enough to live any closer to work than I do (and my lower-paid coworkers all have to live much further away. We prioritized living extremely close to work/school for my husband and son.

Even if I could choose my job, there’s nowhere within my entire state (and potentially any neighboring state), not in any of the locations that I’ve ever lived in, that has the type of infrastructure that we’re after.

I could show up to local government meetings, but I don’t vote in this state, so I’m not even a constituent that any politician would theoretically listen to.

Could I do more than I’m currently doing? Probably. Could we come even close to the type of infrastructure we want in my lifetime? Probably not.

[wanderingback]

Apr 1, 2024 8:14:05 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

I'm currently mostly at home but being forced back to the office in June. Here are my commute options (6 miles):

Drive: 22 minutes
Bike: 36 minutes
Public Transport: 58 minutes

I did the commute for a decade pre-covid and used public transport 90% of the time, and biked the other 9.9%. I have driven in maybe 2 or 3 times. When I head back it will likely more a 60/40 Public Transport/Bike split because our bike infrastructure has improved in the last few years. Even though driving is clearly the quickest, I much prefer the other options so I can read or get exercise. 

I love hearing about improvements in bike infrastructure!
In both cities I live in they now have the bikes you can rent and they seem rather popular. But I haven’t seen too much noticeable change in biking infrastructure incorporated in to our roads wide spread. There are a few bike lanes (with no barriers) here and there but nothing wide spread. And yes I’ve gotten involved with groups that advocate for better biking infrastructure. I know it’s possible, but is not always a priority in certain places with competing priorities and budgets. Hopefully things will continue to improve because I personally do not feel safe biking regularly here and after my bike got stolen 4 years ago I didn’t buy another one (I would bike about a mile on the streets to get to a dedicated bike/running path and that mile would freak me out every time with how much drivers are assholes to bikers).

[pixy0stix]

Apr 1, 2024 8:06:26 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Apr 1, 2024 7:46:38 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

But you are choosing to live in those neighborhoods. You are choosing to not show up to your local government and support better infrastructure. You chose your job. You chose your lifestyle. It's not the planners or developers. In general, they build what people want and will buy.

As for suggestions, open up Wawa's post history. Just show up to a few government meetings and you can influence infrastructure.

Do you or wawa have good examples of bringing public transport to areas where there is none? Would love to share with my mom. Like I said above both my parents live in an area without public transport. My mom is active in her neighborhood and has done stuff with local government but it hasn’t really gone anywhere in the past 20 years. She is a healthy 70 year old and lives in a retirement village now and sometimes they coordinate to take residents to restaurants, shopping, etc. But there is still no bus to get people to neighboring suburbs or the metro city 1.5 hours away. Would love suggestions to pass on to her of examples where communities added public transportation.

It is not realistic that everyone in a household is going to live walking/biking distance to their place of employment (especially with the high rent prices these days), so bringing useable public transportation to people is a solution.

A bus to another community is going to take the coordination of multiple municipalities/county/state governments. So it would be identifying what agencies need to get involved, how the funding works, and go from there. It's a lot of questions, and figuring out how your area government works.


But, it works. CO now has a bus service up and down the front range funded by the state of CO that gets people from many points in our state to major destinations - ridebustang.com/