30% Travel Exclusively by Car

There was a lot of talk on the blogs last week about newly-released census data that highlighted the 23% of Washington residents that get to work by means other than riding in a car alone. Seattle is in the top ten US cities in walking to work, taking the bus to work and biking to work (although not in carpooling) all of which are impressive and encouraging. There is an element of spin to all that fantastic news, of course, and the fact remains that 77% of us still drive to work alone.

The Seattle Times--apparently less inclined to look on the bright side of the numbers--has an article this morning about a DOT study on bicycle use (or disuse) in the area.

One-third of Washington residents say they traveled exclusively by car to get from one place to the other last year, never walking, biking or using public transportation.

Of those who did walk, 92 percent said they walked at least 10 minutes during a usual week, while only 37 percent said they regularly bicycle.

From our little nest in the suburban-looking, but ultimately inner-city, neighborhood of Wallingford it's hard to image a third of any size sampling never walking anywhere ever. Really? Exclusively by car? Trip to the park? Exercise the dog? Corner cafe? To pick up a tallboy after work? Exclusively by car? As in every time they leave the front door they go directly to the driver's seat? Every time? Holy shit. The fucking burbs, man...

The silver lining is that participants in the study were likely to pony up for pedestrian and bicycle-related funding even if they didn't own a bike or a shoe without a high heel.

Another surprising answer came when Washington residents were asked whether they would support new taxes to support pedestrian- and bicycle-safety programs.

"We expected an overall thumbs down," Reeves said, "But a lot of people said they want to bike and walk more and see funding shifted, and looking at new revenue isn't out of the question. That was a surprise and an interesting thing."

As a reason for supporting new taxes, 27 percent said they need a safer place to walk and 22 percent mentioned the health benefits. Those who opposed new taxes said they pay too many taxes already.