Skift

Ground Transport

The Worst Cities for Commuting, Broken Down by Traffic Delays

  • Samantha Shankman, Skift
    • Skift Take
    As the millennial population joins the workforce, alternative transportation include bikes, carpools and public transit become more widely used — and with good reason.
    — Samantha Shankman, Skift
    View on Skift.com

    Washington, DC, is the absolute worst U.S. city for daily commuters, according to Passenger Travel Facts and Figures, a report outlining personal travel trends released by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics this week.

    Each American that commutes to work daily in the DC area, including Virginia and Maryland, encountered 67 hours of delays in 2011. That’s approximately 16 minutes a day, 8 minutes in each direction, based on 251 days of work per year.

    The delays are not much better in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area or San Francisco/Oakland region where daily commuters encountered 61 hours of delays in 2011. That’s approximately 14.6 minutes per day.

    New York City isn’t listed in the 12 worst cities for commuter delays, in large part because of its public transportation system, including the subway system, Metro-North, and Long Island Railroad, that carries more than 165 million passengers each year.

    The following chart outlines yearly hours of delays per auto commuter:

    Urban Area 1982 2000 2005 2010 2011 Long-Term Change (’82-’11)
    Washington, DC – VA – MD 18 65 74 66 67 49
    LA – Long Beach – Santa Ana, CA 37 72 78 61 61 24
    San Francisco – Oakland, CA 24 72 89 60 61 37
    Nashville – Davidson, TN 23 48 57 46 47 24
    Denver – Aurora, CO 11 42 48 44 45 34
    Orlando, FL 13 55 51 44 45 32
    Honolulu, HI 19 34 43 45 45 26
    Baton Rouge, LA 10 36 43 42 42 32
    Bridgeport – Stamford, CT – NY 13 51 54 42 42 29
    Worcester, MA – CT 13 40 40 33 33 20
    Cape Coral, FL 10 29 36 29 30 20
    Columbia, SC 5 20 24 30 30 25

    Source: Texas Transportation Institute’s 2012 Urban Mobility Report, Powered by INRIX Traffic Data.

    Photo Credit: Rush hour traffic as seen from the South Capitol Street Bridge at the M Street Underpass. Elvert Barnes / Flickr
    Subscribe Now

    Already a member?

    Already a member?

    Subscribe to Skift Pro to get unlimited access to stories like these

    Subscribe Now

    Already a member?

    Up Next

    Airlines

    The Americas Lead Airline Capacity Recovery in 2023

    North and South America have been standout performers in leading the industry's capacity recovery post pandemic. While this was anticipated, there are noteworthy shifts in interregional capacity from North America to the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

    Ashab Rizvi | 9 months ago

    Tourism

    Global Travel Recovery Sustains its Momentum

    The Skift Travel Health Index continued to point to a full global travel recovery in May 2023. With 14 out of 22 countries having fully recovered and some overtaking pre-pandemic performance, we anticipate the index to soon significantly surpass 2019 levels.

    Saniya Zanpure | 11 months ago

    Travel Agents

    Travel Die Hards: Agents Continue to Adapt to Disruption

    Managing complexity and adding a human touch has always been the strength of travel agents. They'll need to embrace that as they face the latest travel tech disruptions.

    Selene Brophy | 11 months ago

    Exit mobile version