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| The Geography of How We Get to Work | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 13 2011, 11:14 AM (255 Views) | |
| big al | Jul 13 2011, 11:14 AM Post #1 |
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Bull-Carp
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Some bullet points... Population density increases public transportation usage, but has no effect on walking and biking. Weather and climate do play a role, but not necessarily what you'd think. People are more likely to drive to work where the weather is warm and/or wet. Public transit use as well as walking and biking are more common in drier climes but also in places with colder January temperatures. The longer the commute (based on the average commute time), the more likely people are to use public transit, but--not surprisingly--the less likely they are to bike or walk. The type of housing development matters. The share of housing units built between 2000 and 2006 is negatively associated with the percentage of people who bike, walk or take public transit to work. Rapidly growing cities of sprawl - those which built the most houses during the height of the bubble - remain much more car-dependent than other places. Finally, and perhaps most interesting, the way we get to work is associated with the kinds of work we do. The share of workers in the creative class--scientists, engineers, techies, innovators, and researchers, as well as artists, designers, writers, musicians and professionals in healthcare, business and finance, the legal sector, and education--is positively associated with the percentages of people who take public transit or walk or bike to work. In fact this creative class variable was the largest of all. The top 15 1 :: New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA 2 :: Ithaca, NY 3 :: Boulder, CO 4 :: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA 5 :: Jacksonville, NC 6 :: Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH 7 :: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 8 :: Champaign-Urbana, IL 9 :: Eugene-Springfield, OR 10 :: Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI 11 :: Honolulu, HI 12 :: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 13 :: Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, CA 14 :: Iowa City, IA 15 :: Bellingham, WA Source So, can we wean the American commuter from their car? Big Al |
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Location: Western PA "jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen." -bachophile | |
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| ivorythumper | Jul 13 2011, 11:20 AM Post #2 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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It would take a massive restructuring of land use and radical changes in zoning laws and trillions in new building costs to wean the American commuter from their cars. Not impossible, but unlikely. |
| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| big al | Jul 13 2011, 11:25 AM Post #3 |
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Bull-Carp
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Isn't that one of the aims of the community you're designing, IT? (That's not a snarky question; it's a serious one.) Big Al |
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Location: Western PA "jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen." -bachophile | |
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| JBryan | Jul 13 2011, 01:02 PM Post #4 |
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I am the grey one
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I live 8.5 miles from where I work and I have exactly three alternatives; Drive my car, ride a bike or motorcycle, walk. |
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"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it". Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody. Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore. From The Lion in Winter. | |
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| Mark | Jul 13 2011, 01:12 PM Post #5 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I live zero miles from work. I WANT my car to go WHEREVER and WHENEVER I WANT!
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___.___ (_]===* o 0 When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells | |
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| Copper | Jul 13 2011, 01:16 PM Post #6 |
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Shortstop
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I'm not sure wean is the right word. It's more like can we tell them the right way to get to work? Because they are just too dumb and selfish to figure out they shouldn't be driving a car. |
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The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy | |
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| ivorythumper | Jul 13 2011, 02:15 PM Post #7 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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Yes, it is and it is something I am very interested in. Going forward we can certainly make better planning decisions that create more sustainable developments that are more pedestrian and mass transit oriented. I think that is particularly important as the south and the west continue to develop. My only point is that so much of the existing infrastructure across the nation -- including the sort of neighborhood I now live in -- is not conducive to it, and would be difficult and incredibly expensive (as well of dubious environmental and economic value) to transition to different transportation patterns for vast sections of the residential population in the US. |
| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| ivorythumper | Jul 13 2011, 02:17 PM Post #8 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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Same here. I think home based businesses make a lot of sense. They certainly have improved my quality of life.
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| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| ivorythumper | Jul 13 2011, 02:19 PM Post #9 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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Says the guy who takes a plane to work.
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| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| Dewey | Jul 13 2011, 02:45 PM Post #10 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I live 62.5 miles from one of my jobs, 18 miles from another, and 14 miles from a third (yes, a third one that I haven't mentioned yet). And I live 12 miles from my school. You will have to pry my car keys from my cold, dead fingers.
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"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685. "Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous "Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011 I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14 | |
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| Mikhailoh | Jul 13 2011, 02:56 PM Post #11 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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This is what we aspire to?
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| jon-nyc | Jul 13 2011, 03:01 PM Post #12 |
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Cheers
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Or $12 gas. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| ivorythumper | Jul 13 2011, 03:06 PM Post #13 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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I doubt it. If someone drove 1000 miles/mo / 20 mpg x $12/gal = $7200/year, that would not even begin to offset the massive changes in property values or new infrastracture costs that such a restructuring would entail. |
| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| jon-nyc | Jul 13 2011, 03:45 PM Post #14 |
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Cheers
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Well, 2 cars per household (2.28, akshually) takes that to 14,400. Median household income is <50k. I think in such a scenario quite a bit of weaning would take place, and yeah, suburban property values would feel the effect. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| jon-nyc | Jul 13 2011, 03:46 PM Post #15 |
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Cheers
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Actually my view is $12 gas will accelerate the shift to electric cars, rather than shift us away from cars. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| ivorythumper | Jul 13 2011, 04:37 PM Post #16 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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Agreed .... Anything more fuel efficient will replace gas at those prices long before making people want to move and losing massive amounts of equity to save fuel costs. |
| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| Mikhailoh | Jul 13 2011, 04:38 PM Post #17 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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I agree, Jon. But at some point we will have to face up to the limitations of any number of materials we have assumed will always be available. |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| Copper | Jul 13 2011, 04:43 PM Post #18 |
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Shortstop
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Yes, so we look back to the stars and go to work in |
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The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy | |
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| Catraoine | Jul 13 2011, 05:00 PM Post #19 |
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Junior Carp
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I am not sure if you have these kinds of options in America, but here we can save hundreds of dollars a year in insurance costs by not using the car so much…as I work from home and my husband has always used public transport for work we are lucky if we clock up more than 3,000 k a year on our car. Our yearly fully comprehensive insurance was $945. Now we only pay $308 a year because we do less than 4,000k a year, for every kilometre under that 4,000 it is then transferred over to the following year increasing our initial 4,000k limit. Every three years we get %10 back of the three years premium..people need a financial incentive to look at other possible travel alternatives, more and more people are now taking up this kind of incentive with their car insurance here. |
| Hatred is often felt by those that cannot understand why you are so loved. | |
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| Mikhailoh | Jul 13 2011, 05:02 PM Post #20 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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I also think that forward is the way to go - not back. I think we will find recycling and other solutions to our raw materials problems. |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| sue | Jul 13 2011, 05:06 PM Post #21 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Agreed. I think it's vital we start planning our new communities differently, but I don't think we can go back and retrofit everything. We just need to not repeat our mistakes. |
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| ivorythumper | Jul 13 2011, 08:41 PM Post #22 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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I like that.
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| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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I like that.

11:33 AM Jul 11