The Commute
While cars are convenient, an over-reliance on them can lead to lost wildernesses, increased climate change, and further isolation.
Commuting Time Statistics
According to the ACS the the average commuter time is around 30 min and over 3/4 of commuters drive alone to work. There are a lot of socio-economic and environmental factors in play here. Something as simple as how we get to work can can have a big effect on us, our community, and nature.
~15 Min Commute Time
~30 Min Commute Time
60+ Min Commute Time
Modes Of Commuting Statistics
Driving Alone
According to the U.S. Census Bureau around 76% of Americans drive alone to work. "There are several reasons cited for this trend including increases in car ownership, job growth in suburban and exurban areas, and an increase in 'trip chaining,' or interspersing trips to work with stops at the day care, grocery store, and other locations". ¹
ACS Transportation Statistics
Here's a map that outlines the percent of workers who commute to work by driving alone. Keep in mind that one dot=3%.
Carpooling
9.4% of Americans carpool to work with someone else. Which is an interesting decline from 19.7% in 1980. The most obvious reason is the increase in automobile ownership across all demographics in the United States.
ACS Transportation Statistics
This map outlines the percent of people who carpool to work with someone else. Unlike the previous map, 1 dot=1%.
Public Transportation
Around 5% of Americans use public transportation. Most, because it isn't readily available or accessible in their city.
ACS Transportation Statistics
This map outlines the percent of people that use public transportation to commute to work. This consists of buses, light rail, subways, commuter trains, streetcars and trolleys, cable cars, van pool services, ferries and water taxis, and monorails and tramways. As you can see the dots are more congested around bigger cities that have access to better public transportation
Walking
Around 3% of Americans walk to work. As outlined earlier, most Americans have a driving commute time of around 35-40 minutes. As more and more families move further away from where they work, the oppportunity for them to walk to work is greatly reduced.
ACS Transportation Statistics
Unlike the map outlining public transportation, the dots on this map is much more spread out. This is due to a few different factors but primarily because most of these workers, whether forced to from circumstances or as a result of their own choice, work in the community where they live.
Bicycle
Less than 1% of Americans bike to work. The biggest reason being bike lanes in the United States aren't the safest. As a result, more people are willing to walk to work than bike.
ACS Transportation Statistics
As you can see in the map, bikers tend to live in bigger cities with more established bike lanes.
A Little Closer to Home
A closer look into San Bernardino County shows that a strong 30% of workers commute outside of the county to their work, distancing themselves further from their community and work.
The Consequences of Cars
Cars have provided Americans to a plethora of job opportunities and ample freedom to go and do whatever we want. However, our expenditure of them comes at a cost. If we become too careless we lose touch with nature, our communities, and each other.
Work-Life Balance
If you Google Search "work-life" balance you'll find hundreds of articles outlining how to achieve the perfect work-life balance and what achieving it means for your mental, physical, and emotional health. It's defined as "the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things you enjoy".² However, should these two things be so opposed to each other? Is there an option for workers to enjoy their work and know that their work is a contribution to their community and life outside of the office?
Where the Wild Things Were
The United States has over 4 million miles of roadway and around 20% of its lands are affected by roads.³ This creates fragmented and altered habitats. Often times roads force an edge into a forest where animals used to roam more freely. When roads create barriers to movement they can impact animal populations in many ways. One of these is through prohibiting gene flow. For example, in timber rattlesnakes, a study of genetics at hibernacula showed that in hibernacula that were blocked off by roads, genetic diversity was lower than in those that occurred across contiguous habitats.⁴ Additionally, roads often are the cause of poor air quality, gasoline pollution, and other enivromental concerns.
No Time to Socialize
The more time you spend in your car alone, the less time you have with your family and friends. According to an article by Austin Frakt at the New York Times, "the average American commuter spends 42 hours per year stuck in rush hour traffic. In the Los Angeles area, the figure is nearly twice that, equivalent to more than three days."⁵ This costs over $100 billion of lost time and wasted fuel. Inclinations to stress and road-rage are increased and the time people are able to spend with family and friends is often overclouded with the pressures of the daily commute.
What Do We Do Now?
Please know that I'm not advocating everyone go and sell their car and quit their job. Cars and jobs are wonderful tools we have to better ourselves and our communities. However, we need to be mindful of their impact on our lives and subtle ways we give ourselves over to convenience. Perhaps it means a little extra planning to figure out the Metro schedule. Perhaps it means getting the courage to ask a coworker to commute together. Perhaps it means pulling the slightly rusted bicycle out of the shed. If we all take little steps towards bettering ourselves and our communities, we can greatly improve the standard we've set for future generations.
Check Me Out!
If you'd like to do a little bit more research here are some great articles and one thought-provoking TV show!
- "Stuck and Stressed: The Health Costs of Traffic" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/upshot/stuck-and-stressed-the-health-costs-of-traffic.html
- "The Environmental Impact of Roads" https://www.environmentalscience.org/roads
- "Impacts of Roads on Wildlife Populations" https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/clas/ctip/wildlife_crossing_structures/ch_2.aspx
- Severance https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance/umc.cmc.1srk2goyh2q2zdxcx605w8vtx
