Forbes Magazine recently conducted a survey to determine which cities are getting better and which are getting worse for commuters. Surprisingly, Los Angeles appears on the list of top ten cities for improving commutes, coming in at #6.
The analysis was based on improvements in road conditions, percent of commuters taking transit and delay the average commuter faces because of congestion. LA's ranking was based in large part on the growth in transit ridership from 4.6 percent of all commutes in 2000 to 6.1 percent in 2007.
While it's encouraging to see transit usage being such a big part of their formula, and that the growth in the percent of commuters who use transit in L.A. is strong compared to the rest of the country, Forbes analysis still isn't taking into account that a lot of commuters don't use any sort of motorized travel for their commute. Yesterday, I had to travel to and from the campus of USC, and riding my bike experienced no delay due to automobile congestion.
Photo: Sklathill/Flickr