Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Every three years the Transportation Planning Board’s Commuter Connections program does a State of the Commute survey for the Washington area to see how Washingtonians get to work and what they think of their commutes.
Not surprisingly the people least happy with their commutes are the ones who ride metro rail.
48 percent of Metrorail riders said they were satisfied with their commute in 2016 compared to 67 percent in 2013. Commuter Connections Director Nick Ramfos thinks this is because of safety concerns with Metro. These numbers were from before SafeTrack started.
53 percent of people who drive alone said they were satisfied with their commute in 2016 compared to 61 percent in 2013. The people most satisfied with their commutes were those who biked or walked to work. 97 percent of them were satisfied. Ramfos thinks this has to do with all the accidents that clog up roadways.
The average one-way commute time for people who drive alone to work was 35 minutes in 2016. The average one-way commute time for people who took Metro was 48 percent. Walkers had the shortest commutes at 17 minutes.
Even though commuting on the train takes longer than driving in for some people, the advantage is you can catch up on emails, nap or do work on the train.
He says all the pre-SafeTrack delays could be a reason why commutes on Metro were longer than driving.
Until people are more confident that Metro is safe, Ramfos thinks lots of people will be reluctant to ride Metro. He thinks ridership will increase once Metro establishes a safety culture.
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (Photo: WMATA/Larry Levine)
