Alternative commuting in US cities: walking rises in Atlanta
Governing.com has an interesting report on alternative-commuting habits in US cities using census data. Apparently Atlanta (specifically the city, not the whole metro) made the fourth biggest leap in the country with the percentage of commuters who walk to work, between 2007 and 2012.
The report defines an “alternative” commute as one that involves anything other than a personal automobile.
Some numbers for the City of Atlanta:
- 5.9% of commuting is done by walking.
- 10.6% of commuting is by public transportation
- 2.2% is defined as “other” — bicycle, taxis, motorcycle
This means that roughly 1 in 6 commutes in the city is made with some means other than a personal automobile. Not too shabby, but I hope to see the transit and cycling numbers rise in coming years.
One thing I don’t see in the report is any mention of multi-modal commuting. I currently use a mix of automobile and transit. And I’m not sure if my telework day qualifies as walking to work or not.
The report also doesn’t address desire. I desire a situation where I could always commute without an automobile. On the other end of the spectrum, I know there are people out there who make an arduous walking or transit commute because they can’t afford a car, but they would prefer to drive to work (or else they would prefer to live closer to work in affordable housing — that doesn’t currently exist — near their job).
h/t PEDS