More Chicagoans Are Snubbing Their Cars for CTA, Cycling
By Sarah Gouda in News on Sep 16, 2016 6:38PM
New U.S. Census data shows that more Chicagoans are using public transit for their commuters today versus 10 years ago—and now less than half are using their cars. City planner and former Metropolitan Planning Council project manager Yonah Freemark crunched and then broke down the data yesterday:
2015 1-year ACS data for cities is out. Not much change on commuting data. Check out these 10-year trends, though pic.twitter.com/Lnptx7Oody
— Yonah Freemark (@yfreemark) September 15, 2016
Since 2005, NYC, Chicago, SF, Seattle, Boston, Oakland, Jersey City increased their transit mode shares significantly.
— Yonah Freemark (@yfreemark) September 15, 2016
The table illustrates the changing number of commuters taking public transportation to work, with public transit ridership increasing by 3% to 28.3%. As Curbed points out, "A three percent change may not seem like much, but this growth is significantly higher than many other major cities. The only city listed in the chart that has a bigger growth is Seattle. And another thing to keep in mind is that Chicago is not just a major city, it’s the country’s third largest city, so even a small percentage change means thousands of people."
Looking at share of workers driving alone to work, you get larger view. Here, trend toward bike, walk, home clearer pic.twitter.com/46iNt57tjY
— Yonah Freemark (@yfreemark) September 15, 2016
The number of Chicago commuters driving to work alone in their cars decreased from 53.4% in 2005 to 49.5% in 2015—a good sign for decreasing traffic congestion and pollution. Sadly, this doesn't mean that drivers will stop dooring cyclists.