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10 Worst Cities For Commuters: #9, LA; #10, SF
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Atlanta may have received top honors this time around, but Los Angeles and San Francisco linger at the back of the top ten list for worst commutes in the country, according to a report released by Forbes. And to that, they compare some LA vs. SF statistics:
- Commuting Efficiency: "Los Angeles checks in at 20%. In San Francisco, an extremely efficient city, 28% of the commuters take public transit, walk or carpool..." These figures were developed "by adding the number of people who carpool, those who take public transit and those who walk to work, and divided the sum by the city's total number of commuters, based on Census Bureau figures."
- Highway Capacity: "The Department of Transportation measures capacity by looking at highway miles per 10,000 people. Los Angeles ranks near the bottom, with 4.73 miles of highway per 10,000 people. Houston, near the top, has 9.54 miles of highway per 10,000 people, and even a dense metro like San Francisco has 5.86 highway miles per 10,000 people.
- Public Transit Design: "Varying population densities and development patterns in the nation's cities make gaging efficiency difficult. In Boston, for example, jobs are mostly concentrated in and around the city center. In Los Angeles, offices are more spread out. That means Boston's commuter rail and "T" systems, part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), are better able to put area commuters closer to their jobs than an identical train system could do for Los Angeles commuters."
Additionally, Fresno made the top 5 for best commute in a small city and Oxnard made the top 5 for worst commute in a small city.
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