Commuting, Non-Work Travel and the Changing City

Summary

Analysis of recently released 2000 census data and other data on subway, bus and auto usage reveals a dual trend in bus and subway ridership:

Bus and subway ridership for non-work trips - shopping, recreation and personal business - increased by a remarkable 62% in the 1990s.
On the other hand, bus and subway ridership for commuting to work increased more slowly than employment (6.7% for transit commute trips vs. 8.1% for employment) so that transit's share of all commute trips declined slightly.
As a result of these divergent trends in work versus non-work ridership growth, work trips now account for less than one-half of all subway and bus trips - dropping from 54.5% in 1990 to 44.1% in 2000.

The analysis also shows that:

The proportion of New York City workers commuting by auto increased very slightly from 1990 to 2000 (from 32.6% to 32.9%), bringing almost to a halt a decades-old shift from transit to auto for commute trips. Nevertheless, due to job growth, the number of auto commuters increased by 9.1% from 1990 to 2000.
Commutation times for New York City residents lengthened substantially, from 36.5 minutes in 1990 to 40.0 minutes in 2000.
The proportion of New York City households owning a vehicle increased only marginally, from 44.1% in 1990 to 44.3% in 2000. Spurred by an increase in households, however, the number of households owning a car increased by 7.6% while the number without a car increased 6.8%.

Several important implications can be drawn from these data:

The growth in non-work transit trips explains why transit ridership has continued to increase in 2002 despite falling employment in New York City in the last year.
Non-work trips are now critical to public transportation ridership growth, presenting both challenge and opportunity to the city's transit system.
Transit's mode share for work trips will be affected by the city's success in rebuilding lower Manhattan.
Transit's mode share will also be affected by the transit system's ability to serve the diverse trip network created by the decentralization of jobs within New York City.

Report published June 2002