Report Shows Motorists Increasingly Dissatisfied With the Commute
6 October 2000
``State of the Commute'' Report Shows Motorists Increasingly Dissatisfied With the Commute
LOS ANGELES--Oct. 5, 2000--The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) released its latest "State of the Commute" report today, with the results indicating Southland motorists are increasingly dissatisfied with the commute.Forty-three percent of respondents considered freeway congestion to be worse than it was a year ago, and 33 percent make a similar assessment of surface traffic. Those negative perceptions of Southern California traffic represent a trend of increasingly sour judgments of freeway and surface street congestion that began in 1996.
Rating their overall commute on a scale of one to nine (one being least satisfied, nine being most satisfied), respondents gave their commute an average of 6.4, the first reversal of a steady uptrend in this indicator since 1990 (in 1998, commuters gave an average rating of 6.7).
The report collects data on commuters' travel opinions, behavior and attitudes towards traffic congestion and various commuter alternatives based on a comprehensive -- more -- random telephone survey of commuters throughout Southern California. The extensive report covers comparisons with reports from past years as well as between Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Imperial Counties.
"Commuters are largely choosing the same way to get to work -- with most still driving alone -- but what we're seeing is a shift in how people feel about the commute," said Cheryl Collier, manager for Southern California Rideshare, a service of SCAG. "They may not have made a change to ridesharing yet, but they're feeling the strain."
The carpooling/vanpooling rate has stayed between 14.8 percent and 16.5 percent since 1992. Around 26 percent of respondents said that they use alternatives to driving alone on their commute at least once a week, and 21 percent say they utilize such commuter alternatives at least three times a week. In addition, 43 percent of people are saying traffic is getting worse, and 29 percent of all commuters report that they are personally bothered by traffic congestion.
A comparison between the six counties shows Los Angeles County has the lowest drive-alone rate (77 percent), while Riverside and Imperial counties have the highest (83 percent and 85 percent respectively). Residents in San Bernardino and Riverside counties spend the most time commuting (approximately one hour and 15 minutes) and travel the farthest (43 miles roundtrip). It takes the average commuter 34 minutes to get to work and 41 minutes to get home with an average distance of 32.4 miles round-trip. Those figures have increased from 32 and 37 minutes and 32.2 miles as cited in the 1998 report.
Of those having High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) lanes readily available to them, nearly one in five (18 percent) actually used the lanes at least once in the week prior to the survey. The vast majority of ridesharers with access to an HOV lane (71 percent) report traveling on the HOV lane to work. The report states that "a one percent drop in the carpooling rate translates into more than 40,000 additional vehicles on our already crowded freeways and service streets daily which in turn results in an annual increase of 302 million vehicle miles of travel."
