Posted on Thursday February 18th by The Infrastructurist | 21,865
Every year, millions of Americans spend more than 100 hours commuting to and from work — more time than the full duration of a two-week vacation. So how are all these people, the bulk of them in urban areas, getting to the office? Artist Martha Kang McGill illustrates the commuting habits of eight major U.S. cities, illustrating just who is driving, walking, biking, or taking mass transit. All stats are based on the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Fantastic graphic. Although I might have made the bottom couple of categories as shades of green
February 18th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
It’s important to remember that these are figures for “commutes” only — not for the total number of trips, which is the more valuable indicator from an urban economic perspective and which tends to be higher (compare San Francisco’s figures on total trips to the Census data below to see what we mean). They also don’t consider trips to schools, day cares, etc.
Bicycling advocacy groups also often cite their own surveys and/or city reported data about the population that “uses a bike” each day. For example, TA estimates that between 100,000 and 200,000 people use a bicycle each day in New York City for some purpose — much higher than what the Census shows.
http://downtownnewhaven.blogspot.com/2009/09/breaking-2008-census-acs-bike-to-work.html
February 18th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
I really wish Boston was on there, which I believe is #1 with walking to work and I believe over 50% on public transit.
February 18th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
There’s this idea in design that you can either make sense of things, or make things strange (one not being more noble than the other)… this is an example of trying to make sense of something then making it strange….why not just show the cities side by side.
If we’re really trying to gain a greater understanding. There should be no reason to make it look “cool” (strange) with the three letter acronyms?
It’s interesting to look at but hard to make any nuanced conclusions from.
February 18th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Edward Tufte would be rolling over in his grave, if he were dead. I agree with David–that’s a horrible informational graphic. That being said, what strikes me as a terrible shame is how little ride sharing we see in this country. It’s the one measure that requires no changes to the vehicle fleet, uses existing infrastructure, and not only doesn’t cost anything but offers immediate savings. The impact on emissions, congestion, and eventually land use would be enormous and, in the case of the former two, instantaneous. We could do this tomorrow. All we need to do is double up. It’s so damned easy, and yet we don’t do it. It’s infuriating. While we can’t all use public transit, I fail to see why we can’t pick up somebody else on the way to work.
Except for the fact that other people are often annoying, late, and generally inconsiderate.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
I don’t think the point of this graphic is to make nuanced conclusions. No one’s trying to look for statistically significant differences, for instance. The point is to make data that is generally uninteresting more accessible. Considering how many people are intimidated by math/statistics, this graphic seems appropriate.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
[...] Infrastructurist and Martha Kang McGill comes this snapshot of urban life in America. McGill took census data to [...]
February 18th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
[...] How Do Americans Get to Work?. via madregale [...]
February 18th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Why does Dallas always get shafted on these types of graphs? We actually have a really good public trans system, we’ld put in a much better show than Houston.
February 18th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
I’d be inclined to agree that it’s effective as an illustration that’s an abstraction of reality (it’s by a graphic artist, not an advocacy organization). It makes the point, which is valid, that cities have different infrastructure and priorities and this leads to dramatically different mode shares.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:02 am
Utah Transit Authority is trying too Eliminate has much Bus System, because a Good Bus System does not earn the Huge Bonuses for the Executives, it is all about Light-Rail and FrontRunner our US Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Bob Bennett help UTA get EARMARKS. Catmeow Public Transit: catmeowpublictransit.blogspot.com
February 19th, 2010 at 8:54 am
[...] How blue is your city? One artist color-codes local commuting patterns (Infrastructurist) [...]
February 19th, 2010 at 10:08 am
[...] Commuting: See How Big American Cities Stack Up (Infrastructurist) More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol [...]
February 19th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
David,
If you want nuanced data, go to the original source. It cites it at the bottom of the screen so it should be easy to locate.
Take this for what it is… a visual interpretation of data in a fairly artistic rendering. The data is easily understood by looking at the graphic (which is rather aesthetically pleasing) for five seconds. It doesn’t strike me as strange at all.
Let me guess, your favorite artist is Renoir?
February 19th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
@Dallas because H-town’s the tits and dallas people can’t read. HOUSTON>DALLAS. OH SNAAAAP!
February 19th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
*dives into above-ground swimming pool filled with gasoline*
February 19th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Cool infographic! Keep ‘em coming.
February 20th, 2010 at 2:24 am
Is this cities proper or metro areas? Using city proper really makes them non-comparable; San Francisco city proper has half the population of Manhattan alone (and i think comparable area although I’m not sure and am too lazy to look it up).
And no, the citation doesn’t specify the answer to this question although I’m guessing it is city proper.
February 20th, 2010 at 3:16 am
I agree, John, using the population in the city limits, rather than the metro area, leads to unfair comparisons. Greater SF and Greater LA have more similar commuting patterns, but LA city is huge and sprawling, while SF is compact.
February 20th, 2010 at 3:51 am
I like how cyclists are just thrown with the telecommuters. Its okay though, we’re only 1% anyways.
February 20th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Excluding South Bay, Greater SF has a transit mode share of 15%, and is in a near-tie with Washington for second highest in the US. Greater LA has a transit mode share of about 7%, and is about seventh.
February 20th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
The geography and commuting patterns of Greater SF and Greater LA are not that similar. Greater LA is probably more akin to Houston or Atlanta. These cities don’t really have a true “center.” Bunker Hill is just one of many clusters of isolated development spread throughout the city that don’t form a cohesive cityscape. No one cluster “owns” the city’s identity. Greater SF is more akin to the Research Triangle + Triad in North Carolina or even Seattle-Tacoma-Belluvue. SF, Oakland and San Jose are all very distinct cities of equal importance that together form a cohesive metro area.
February 20th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
[...] Whether this graphic makes seeing the commuting pattern of eight major U.S. cities easier to understand or clear as mud might be a personal choice. We happen to think it’s quite clever, and you can see the larger version here. [...]
February 20th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
I find it strange that biking to work and working from home are lumped together in the same category. They’re not similar in any way, and I can’t imagine what the “etc” could possibly be meant to include.
February 21st, 2010 at 12:45 pm
[...] Sheila Pontis, The Infrastructurist, University of the Arts London One of my colleagues sent me this link about how Americans go to work. A synthetic infographic showing the different commute patterns used [...]
February 21st, 2010 at 2:19 pm
The link to the data source is good, but a couple of lines about methodology would hugely improve the value of these graphs.
As other commenters have asked, is this only the incorporated municipalities, or some greater metro area? Are they census statistical areas? If so, which ones (i.e, is ‘LA’ the Los Angeles-LongBeach-Santa Ana MSA or the Los Angeles-Long-Beach-Riverside CSA?) If you’re using municipalities, are you only counting city residents; or only city residents who work in the city; or residents of other cities who commute into the city for work? Or what?
Without specifying what data you’re graphing, the graphs, pretty though they may be, are useless for drawing any real conclusions.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:21 pm
@Dallas
dallas has the better light rail system but more people ride transit in general in houston.
sure it might be mostly on the bus, but transit is transit
http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2009_q3_ridership_APTA.pdf
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:38 am
Am I the only one who found it interesting that Houston appears to be the carpooling capital of the bunch?
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:15 am
Houston has a ton of HOV lanes added to its freeways.
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:32 am
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February 22nd, 2010 at 10:38 am
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February 22nd, 2010 at 11:59 am
Interesting how people complain that this is a horrible graphic, then manage to quickly and easily spew out a string of comparisons and conclusions from facts that they had never known before, let alone had the ability to compare amongst a diverse group of cities. Hmmmm.
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:25 pm
[...] original article in the Infrastructurist. [...]
February 22nd, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Not to be minimized along with “schedules don’t align”:
“Except for the fact that other people are often annoying, late, and generally inconsiderate.”
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Good point jfsacal. These other complainers don’t seem to have articles with their own graphics for us to compare (and complain or compliment), so for the rest of you: put your money where your mouth is if you’re going to whine about a little graphic creativity.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:41 am
I second Kyle. As a Boston-based worker I’m very interested to know if the stats match up with my world view.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:22 pm
[...] American Community Survey. the fine print… via For the Love of Bikes via Out of Habit via Infrastructure Categories: academic, culture, governance, urban Tags: bicycling, biking, cycling, urban [...]
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:26 pm
The dissimilarities between Greater LA and and Greater Atlanta and Houston, far outweigh the similarities. I’ll disagree with CHV and say that the LA cityscape is actually quite cohesive as an urban form; it’s just not architecturally cohesive on a large scale. Greater LA is a complex collection of distinct neighborhoods and towns that originally grew along railway lines, the Pacific Electric interurban railway in particular. A cohesive street grid connects these communities and boundaries are blurred, except for geographic ones. The urbanist/historian Reyner Banham in fact wrote that LA shares much with London in terms of its complex urban form. With Metro’s expansion plans, onto the former Pac Eelectric and Santa Fe RR right of ways as well as its subway plans, mass transit will once again connect many of the distinct communities that contributed to LA’s growth. Within the decade, for example, a new light rail line from Ontario will connect to an already established one to downtown LA and Long Beach. A $1.25 70+mile trip will link dozens of long established communities.
Greater Atlanta, in particular, aside from a few neighborhoods close to downtown, is defined by modern “leapfrog” sprawl that lacks a cohesive street grid and any “connectivity” between neighborhoods. Aside from a few satellite towns, is hardly as dense or interesting as greater LA.
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:56 am
[...] Infographics on major city travel modes [...]
March 9th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Not so surprisingly that NYC uses public transportation more frequently than most. But with the proposed increases in the fares and the elimination of certain lines to close a budget gap that was created by irresponsible mismanagement, perhaps its time to hold those accountable for creating this mess.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
[...] How Do Americans Get to Work? Transit Patterns in Major Cities … [...]
April 22nd, 2010 at 7:28 pm
One local (SF Bay Area) observation and a newsy tidbit. I live in Marin county, north of San Francisco. Carpooling is not promoted in any substantial way here, except with access to HOV lanes (on 101 only) and carpools currently do not pay a toll on the Golden Gate Bridge.
News is: The Golden Gate Bridge transit authority is considering a proposal to start charging carpools a reduced toll during commute times on the GG Bridge, further eroding any participation I’m sure. For the money they’ll get, the congestion increases will not be worth it..
My observation is that participation in carpools at least during the morning commute seems to be concentrated among a particular ethnic group, namely Hispanics. It seems that upwards of 70% of the morning traffic that qualifies for HOV use based upon occupancy are Hispanic. Some are clearly contractors going to the job site but not a majority. I wonder what keeps caucasians from picking up people that are going the same place they are in the morning?
April 28th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
[...] http://www.infrastructurist.com/2010/02/18/how-do-americans-get-to-work-transit-patterns-in-major-ci... Reply to this comment Comment by Tim 2010-04-28 13:33:21 [...]
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:11 pm
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May 3rd, 2010 at 12:31 pm
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May 3rd, 2010 at 3:04 pm
[...] are pretty darn cool. This one, brought to us by Infrastructurist, shows the breakdown of commuter habits. There is nothing like an info-graphic to really [...]
August 25th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
[...] Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Seattle all have sufficiently good public transportation or walkability to allow residents and tourists to get around car-less perfectly fine. (In fact, a good percentage of people who live in these cities walk or take public transportation to work, according to this widely-circulated graphic.) [...]