Walking to Work: Trends in the United States, 2005–2014
RESEARCH BRIEF — Volume 13 — September 22, 2016
PEER REVIEWED
The percentage of travel to work by private vehicle increased steadily from approximately 72% in 1960 to more than 90% in 2000, while at the same time the percentage of travel to work by public transportation and by walking decreased abruptly, from more than 13% in 1960 to approximately 5% in 2000 for public transportation and from 11% in 1960 to 3% in 2000 for walking. However, during the period from 2005 through 2014, the percentage of 3 travel modes remained stable, with a slight decrease in private vehicle travel and a slight increase in walking.
Figure 1. Percentage of travel to work by private vehicle, public transportation, and walking from 1960 through 2000, by decade, and from 2005 through 2014, by year, American Community Survey, United States.
| Year | Private Vehicle | Public Transportation | Walking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 72.32 | 13.67 | 11.19 |
| 1970 | 80.52 | 9.22 | 7.67 |
| 1980 | 86.08 | 6.55 | 5.73 |
| 1990 | 89.18 | 5.46 | 4.02 |
| 2000 | 90.88 | 4.89 | 3.03 |
| 2005 | 90.93 | 4.83 | 2.57 |
| 2006 | 90.25 | 5.03 | 2.97 |
| 2007 | 90.16 | 5.09 | 2.96 |
| 2008 | 89.92 | 5.22 | 2.94 |
| 2009 | 89.99 | 5.22 | 2.99 |
| 2010 | 90.16 | 5.17 | 2.9 |
| 2011 | 89.98 | 5.26 | 2.94 |
| 2012 | 89.92 | 5.24 | 2.95 |
| 2013 | 89.71 | 5.41 | 2.93 |
| 2014 | 89.92 | 5.3 | 2.91 |
Figure 2. The β values of decay functions for the distribution of walking trips to work, by duration, American Community Survey, United States, 2005–2014. The figure also includes a trend line to show the change pattern over years. The trend line is negative, that is, it shows a decreasing pattern for the β value of decay functions over years. The R 2 value of 0.83 is the fitness of the trend line for the β values from 2005 through 2014.
| Year | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decay function | β | 0.113 | 0.117 | 0.114 | 0.106 | 0.108 | 0.107 | 0.103 | 0.102 | 0.101 | 0.102 |
| R2 | 0.946 | 0.947 | 0.951 | 0.962 | 0.958 | 0.962 | 0.966 | 0.968 | 0.966 | 0.966 | |
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