Originally Posted by
FiftySix
Interesting outtakes from that brief article.
"Only 5.1 percent of U.S. workers commuted regularly by public transportation in the years 2012 to 2016, according to the Census Bureau."
Out of that:
"The New York metropolitan area accounts for 39 percent of U.S. public transportation commuters. The New York, Chicago and Washington areas together make up 52 percent."
It is a contention I have had for some time that our view on Cities, Suburbs, sprawl, transit all stem from where we live. It also depends on what we are looking at. I got into cycling seriously in the mid 70s when we had the largest percentage of adult sized bicycles sold per capita according to the National Bicycle dealers association. Bicycle commuters back then were just below 1 percent. Nationally according to the national census bureau we have about .6 percent of our population commuting by bicycle. Some cities do better of course. But we often see posts about the giant increase in cyclists when ever it pushes to 1 percent or better. That has taken 46 years since the report on bicycle usage in 1973. Yes there has been growth in the area of cycling but it isn't as great as those that have decided to work from home. They started from almost zero in 1973. According to recently released data from the US Census, 5.2% of workers in the US worked at home in 2017—or 8 million people. I live where the works from home is more obvious so people can live wherever they want and commute from the bedroom to the work room in their pajamas. In southern California we live in a land of Industrial parks where the jobs move to where the people are rather than the people having to move to the city. That might not be the case in the North east but I don't have to deal with the north east. So I see job sprawl as a natural thing because it works for the greater number of people without the restrictions of living packed and stacked. In the north east I see packed and stacked as normal. That affects how some of us view mass transit as well.