Bay Area Leads the Nation in Reducing Solo Commuters

According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey on commuting to work, one subregion in the Bay Area can claim accolades for having achieved the largest drop in solo-commuting from 2006, scoring the third lowest drive-alone rate in 2013.

2 minute read

August 17, 2015, 6:00 AM PDT

By Irvin Dawid


"Workers in the San Francisco Bay Area made the nation’s most dramatic shift from commuting via automobile to using alternative transportation between 2006 and 2013, according to a new Census Bureau report," writes Dan Walters in a Capitol Alert for The Sacramento Bee on the Census report released Thursday, August 13.

The San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA metropolitan statistical area (MSA) had the third lowest rate of solo commuting in 2012 at 69.8 percent, as listed in Table 2 on page 6 of 28 [PDF] behind:

  • New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA: 56.9%
  • Ithaca, NY: 68.7%

Compare those figures with the national drive-alone rate of 76.4 percent. However, the San Francisco MSA achieved the highest rate of decrease of solo auto commuting at 3.8%, listed on Table on page 5, followed by the MSAs of:

  • Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH: 3.3%
  • Durham-Chapel Hill, NC: 2.9%
After drive-alone, the new census data revealed that on a national level in 2013, 9.4 percent carpooled, 5.2 percent used public transit, 4.4% worked at home, 2.8% walked, and 1.32% used “other means of travel,” writes Walters.

Bicycling was the least popular method of commuting, used by just six-tenths of one percent of workers.

More evidence of peak car?

While the 76.4 percent drive-alone rate in 2013 is high, the press release states that "driving alone to work peaked in 2010 at 76.6 percent.

"In recent years, the percentage of workers who commute by private vehicle remained relatively stable after decades of consistent increase," writes the report's author, Brian Mckenzie, in the introduction. "For several individual years since the mid-2000s, the average number of vehicle miles traveled [VMT] in the United States has either increased at a slower pace than in previous decades or declined."

Although such shifts in travel behavior are slight, they have captured attention because they represent a disruption in an unequivocal, decades-long pattern of increased automobile travel. 

Carpooling decline leads to auto commute decline

"Overall, automobile commuting has declined since 2000, in part, due to the continuation of a long-standing pattern of a decline in carpooling," notes McKenzie in a Random Samplings blog" on urban millennial commute choices

One out of five U.S. workers carpooled in 1980, but in 2013, only one out of 10 carpooled.

McKenzie cites four 2014 research papers from the prolific Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) that ask, "Has motorization in the U.S. Peaked?"

Thursday, August 13, 2015 in The Sacramento Bee - Capitol Alert

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 2, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

White and purple sign for Slow Street in San Francisco, California with people crossing crosswalk.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths

Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

July 1, 2025 - KQED

"Altadena - Not For Sale" yard sign in front of burned down house after Eaton Fire in Altadena, California in January 2025.

Half of Post-Fire Altadena Home Sales Were to Corporations

Large investors are quietly buying up dozens of properties in Altadena, California, where a devastating wildfire destroyed more than 6,000 homes in January.

July 7 - Dwell

Dense multistory residential buildings in hilly San Francisco, California.

Opinion: What San Francisco’s Proposed ‘Family Zoning’ Could Really Mean

Mayor Lurie is using ‘family zoning’ to encourage denser development and upzoning — but could the concept actually foster community and more human-scale public spaces?

July 7 - The San Francisco Standard

Blue self-driving Ford Transit van shuttle in Jacksonville, Florida.

Jacksonville Launches First Autonomous Transit Shuttle in US

A fleet of 14 fully autonomous vehicles will serve a 3.5-mile downtown Jacksonville route with 12 stops.

July 7 - Smart Cities Dive

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Associate/Senior Planner

Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development

Senior Planner

Heyer Gruel & Associates PA