Today, GM digs back into the recently released American Community Survey results issued by the Census Bureau. Specifically, GM is going to explore one of his favorite topics: transportation.
Last year, GM reported that the numbers showed a dramatic reduction of Georgetowners driving to work and a smaller, but still significant, jump in transit use. He is somewhat sorry to say that some of those trends reversed themselves this year.
Here are the year to year comparisons:
|
2010 |
2011 |
|
| Drove Total |
31.43% |
38.49% |
| Drove Alone |
28.12% |
33.21% |
| Carpool |
3.31% |
5.27% |
| Transit |
24.46% |
23.05% |
| Walked |
25.63% |
23.78% |
| Other |
5.97% |
7.61% |
| At Home |
9.20% |
7.08% |
The driving totals went almost back to where they were in 2009 and the transit cohort shaved off a few percentages. “Other” is up pretty significantly, which probably reflects the growing numbers of bike commuters.
Before you jump to a conclusion that something happened in 2011 to change people’s behaviors, remember that each of these results reflects a running five year average. So when the 2011 numbers say 23.05% of Georgetowners took transit, it’s really saying that from 2007 to 2011, an average of 23.05% of Georgetowners took transit. So while shifting up a year would affect that somewhat, it’s not a “snapshot”.
The long term trends, though, are still towards transit, walking and “other” (which, on top of biking, also includes motorcycling, Segwaying, and whatever else doesn’t involve a car or public transit.) Continue reading
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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