February 17, 2018

Seattle commuters turn away from cars

City Lab -  Seattle is among the fastest growing cities in the U.S., thanks largely to Amazon’s addition of 35,000 employees since 2010... But thanks in part to considerable efforts by the region’s largest employers, the share of commuters driving solo into downtown Seattle is on a dramatic decline.

Just 25 percent of workers traveling into the center city drove themselves, according to the results of the latest annual commuter survey by the Seattle Department of Transportation and nonprofit partner Commute Seattle. This is the lowest share since the city started keeping track in 2010.

While Seattle has gained about 60,000 jobs since 2010, there are approximately 4,500 fewer single-occupancy vehicles.

Overwhelmingly, new workers are choosing transit. The share of commuters headed downtown by bus or train rocketed from 42 to 48 percent from 2010 to 2017, with about 127,00 such trips during the average morning rush hour.

Walking, biking and carpooling also picked up by thousands of trips per day, according to the survey. 

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