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 →
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