There is a great info graphic on commuting on Bundle this month.
It is problematic in my opinion. It is primarily weighted by automobile cost and gas consumption. These are important factors especially when factoring in damage to our environment and curbing consumption based behaviors. However, I think it leaves out an important part of “best/worst” in commuting. Most people measure their commute primarily in the amount of time it takes out of their life.
For example New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, DC, Virgina, Maryland, West Virginia and Chicago have the worst transit times and delay times, but are by far more green because of their density. I think we need to do a better job of presenting full data sets, not just the data we like. For example, I think Forbes does a nice job listing best and worst commutes factoring in time in a more sincere way than Bundle does. I still love the graphic though. Would love to see the Forbes data in the Bundle info graphic format. Any takers?
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If I had a regular commute and could utilize mass transit to accomplish most of it I would be happy to do so. Unfortunately I rarely commute (working from home) and when I do go to the office there are no realistic transit options.
That said, I’m excited that we have the transit station at Germann & AZ Ave and another at Power Rd & US-60. These are steps in the right direction. I don’t think the Phoenix Metro area is in any shape politically, economically, or mentally to solve this transit problem full stop.
Absolutely we have limited transit options and tackling them with our sprawl is going to be expensive. Some good starts have been made. However, I would hardly list our commutes as being substantially bad from a “time” perspective. They are horrendous from a cost (to us and the environment) perspective. I think that it is important to include all those things when measuring the impact of a commute. Financially we are one of the worst. Time we are reasonable. Combined we are middle of the pack.
You don’t link to the Forbes data.
Andrew,
It is the link on “worst transit times and delays”…
http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/12/best-worst-commutes-lifestyle-mass-transit_chart.html