New numbers on getting to work from the Census Bureau.
(Full press release with data links here).
Some interesting items to note, among the 50 largest cities, Portland Oregon deserves some special attention. 3.5% of the workforce bikes to work (#1); 5.3% work from home (#2); 4.3% walk to work (#12); 13.3% take public transporation (#10).
The top ranked cites by percentage of the workforce:
- Biking – Portland OR – 3.5%
- Working from Home – San Francisco – 6.3%
- Walking – Boston – 12.5%
- Taking Public Transportation – New York – 54.6%
At least 22 of the top 25 cities in each of the four non-driving categories are in the top 100 (out of 368) Creative Class cities.
posted by Kevin Stolarick
June 13th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Portland sometimes seems to be taken over by the cult of the bicycle. A couple of years ago many were really obnoxious, but now with numbers, age or something most are stopping for red lights, staying in lanes, etc. We’ve moved from Critical Mass, where dozens on bicycles would gather downtown to purposely block traffic, to The Zoobombers who ride mini-bikes downhill from the Zoo at high speeds late at night and the recent World Naked Bike Ride.
Working from home probably has a high correlation with small business and self employment, both of which Portland is high in.
Walking to work requires sidewalks and probably a small downtown and dense neighborhoods, which makes Boston make sense.
Public transit I think we should divide cities into two categories. 1. Those which have long had strong transit systems and often subways (New York, Boston, Chicago, DC, San Francisco) and cars can be an inconvenience. 2 Those that had anemic systems and have built them almost from scratch since the 70’s (Portland, Seattle, LA). In the former public transit is a tradition and a real convenience — in the latter it’s more of a lifestyle choice for most people and probably more interesting in why the cities chose this route.
June 13th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
The first paragraph of Michael Wells’ post reflects perfectly the value judgments of a society that reflexively supraordinates car-travel and the exclusive usage of streets and roads by cars above all other means of transportation and potential usages of streets and roads. Apparently, anything that even slightly and briefly interferes with unimpeded car traffic is “cultish” and “obnoxious”. Please. I think we all know from where the real obnoxiousness stems. We need to reclaim our cities and reclaim the streets from the devastation that cars have wrought on them.
June 13th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
I should have made it clearer that I find the Zoobombers and Naked Bike Ride fun and approve of them. Bicyclists running stop signs and red lights at speed, or riding at night without lights, lead to accidents and are obnoxious. The one bike death and one serious injury in my neighborhood have been from bicyclists running stop signs or not having lights.
Bicyclists who follow the rules of the road, and common sense, are great. “Some of my best friends are…” If you go to countries with lots of bicyclists, you see that people treat their bikes as transportation and mingle peacefully with cars and buses. The pros in Portland, the bicycle messengers, ride fast and creatively but intelligently, many ride fixed-gear bikes without brakes and I’ve never seen one in an accident — and I’ve never seen one run a light without looking for oncoming traffic.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Have They Seen the Price of Gas??
Have They Seen the Price of Gas? New numbers on getting to work from the Census Bureau. (via The Creativity Exchange)…