I’m a minority. And no, not just in the 6-foot-1 blogger/balding-historian-with glasses-whose-name-ends-in-“Z” way.
The extent of my minority is revealed in the hulking 2010 Statistical Abstract of the United States that is just hitting the stands.
The information therein is compiled by the good offices of the U.S. Census Bureau, which thankfully collects this data to provide plenty of fodder for, um, bloggers like me. They’ve undertaken this task since 1878.
According to the SAUS’ Table No. 1064, Commuting by State: 2007, in getting to work, just 10.4 percent of the U.S. population carpools. Some 4.9 percent use public transportation, and a mere 2.8 percent walk.
2.8 percent!
What population walks the most to and from work? The numbers are these: Washington, D.C. (11.1 percent); Alaska (8.4 percent); New York (6.3 percent); and Vermont (6.2 percent).
Virginia barely rings the bell at 2.2 percent.
The greatest use of public transit: D.C (36.4 percent — yes, the Metro is congested); New York (26.4 percent — unless there’s a Subway Series); and New Jersey (10.4 percent). After them, it’s pitiful. Virginia comes along toward the tail end of the train at 3.8 percent.
Since these numbers were finalized in 2007, my hope is that there’s been some rise due to inflation in transportation prices. My bus rides have gotten more crowded, and I certainly see more people on bikes than I used to.
“Throughout the nation, the number of people bicycling to work has increased 43 percent since 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau,” quoth a Dec. 2009 Reuters report, “as more cities encourage residents to recognize the benefits of using their bikes for transportation.
"Among U.S. cities, Portland, Ore., showed the biggest gain, tripling its proportion of bike commuters between 2000 and 2008 to a nation-leading 6 percent. Seattle, Minneapolis and Sacramento also had relatively high rates.”
But folks taking the shank’s mare, not as much.
However, I can tell you, through strictly anecdotal observation as I watch the cars whip past me while waiting to cross Monument Avenue, that most people drive alone, and far too many of them do so while, according to my guesstimation: A) talking on a cell phone or using some portable device (85 percent); B) drinking or eating (30 percent); C) singing to music from either a broadcast or personal listening mechanism (15 percent); D) Applying makeup (4 percent); E) talking to invisible passengers (3 percent); F) smoking (1.5 percent); G) reading (.2 percent). Yes, I’ve seen people with newspapers and/or books spread across their steering wheels, which is a behavior that I enjoy seeing from the perspective of one who traffics in words, but it also makes me fearful for my life and the lives of others.
The official SAUS backs me up, sort of.
Something like 76.1 percent of 2007’s U.S. commuters drove to work alone. Our fellow countrymen sacrifice an average of 25.3 minutes commuting each way. I can rack up those minutes walking, but that’s because I tend to follow the Three G’s of the Purposeful Saunter: Gawk, Gab and Gallivant.
Now, I know why these figures are this way. Unless you live in a metroplex where it’s just more convenient to get around on foot or by using public transit, the best way to get anywhere is to drive. And that, in my 100 percent personal opinion, is the largest share of the problem. And I really want Richmond to get Zip Cars.
