TRANSPORTATION We are experiencing increasing traffic congestion and transportation costs. There is a renewed interest in creating a system incorporating all transportation choices. Key Facts/Trends Transportation Costs • The average household in the Austin-Round Rock region spends 23.3 percent of income on transportation costs. Austin’s transportation expenditure falls within the range of comparable cities such as Dallas (22.6), San Diego (22.9), Portland (23.7), Nashville (25.4), and Seattle (25). Transportation Modes and Travel Time • In 2009, 73 percent of Austin’s working population drove alone to work and 10 percent carpooled. This rate of car usage, however, was less than Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and the state of Texas as a whole. Motorists in Austin who drove alone to work earned approximately 1.2 times Austin’s median household income. • During the same year, five percent of Austin’s working population rode a bus to work, one percent bicycled, and 2.3 percent walked. Workers choosing these modes of transportation earned approximately 60 percent of Austin’s median household income. • In 2009, the majority of Austin’s workers had commutes of 30 minutes or less, generally shorter than those in Houston, Dallas, or peer cities such as Seattle or San Diego. • A 2008 Brookings Institution study found that between 2002 and 2006 Austin led the nation’s largest metropolitan areas in reducing the number of vehicle miles traveled. During this period, Austin’s vehicle miles traveled per capita decreased more than 12 percent. In 2006 the city’s vehicle miles traveled per capita (4,974 miles) ranked 77th out of 100, which was much less than that of Raleigh (17th) Minneapolis (58th), and Seattle (64th). Travel Time to Work, 2009 Percentage of Workers Commute
Austin
Dallas
Houston
San Antonio
State of Texas
Raleigh, NC
San Diego, CA
Portland, OR
Seattle, WA
Minneapolis, MN
Less than 30 minutes
71.8
63.9
61.1
68.9
65.2
74.8
74.0
70.3
63.8
73.2
30-59 minutes
23.8
30.1
31.8
26.8
28.1
21.6
22.5
25.4
30.7
23.1
60 minutes or more
4.4
6.1
7.0
4.3
6.7
3.6
3.5
4.3
5.5
3.7
Time
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
chapter 2 experiencing austin: who are we today? | 39