How People Traveled Through San Francisco in 2021

How People Traveled Through San Francisco in 2021
By Maia Moran

Earth Day is April 22 and a great time to think about changes we can make in our own lives to support the health of our planet. When it comes to climate change, one of the most meaningful actions we can take is to drive less and get around more by biking, walking and taking forms of public transportation like Muni. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in San Francisco, with personal driving accounting for 72% of the sector’s emissions. By comparison, Muni accounts for about 1% of GHG emissions in and out of the city.

But when it comes to driving less, the San Francisco Bay Area is going in the wrong direction. Public transit use fell by 11% between 2019 and 2021 and private automobile use increased by 13%, according to the results of the 2021 Travel Decision Survey. That’s why we’ve been working so hard to make transit, walking and biking more appealing and convenient with new transit lanes, better ventilation on Muni, protected bike lanes and more.

Travel Decision Survey

Once every two years, the SFMTA conducts a telephone survey of over 750 Bay Area residents to ask them questions about their daily travel patterns and how they get to destinations in and around San Francisco. Results from the 2021 Travel Decision Survey (TDS) indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has driven a shift away from our vision for a transit-first city. The survey allows us to understand whether people in San Francisco are traveling by “priority” modes (walking, biking and public transit). Priority modes are those encouraged by San Francisco’s long-standing transit-first policy, which seeks to improve the city’s economy, environment and quality of life. Trips by transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft, driving with others and driving alone are all categorized as “privately owned vehicle” modes and grouped into one category.

Key Findings

Using San Francisco County Transportation Agency data, the total number of anticipated daily trips decreased from 4.5 million in 2019 to 4.4 million in 2021, consistent with daily travel pattern shifts prompted by the pandemic such as more people working at home and fewer commuting to offices. Despite an agency goal of increasing travel by priority modes, the share for these trips fell from just under half (46%) in 2019 to just under two-fifths (38%) in 2021.

The most significant decrease in travel mode was by public transit, which fell 11% between 2019 and 2021. The most significant increase in travel mode was by private automobile use, including both driving with others (up 8%) and driving alone (up 5%). Walking and biking both had minor increases.

Mode share change from 2019 to 2021 bar chart. Between 2019 and 2021 surveys, mode share change was 1 percent increase for bicycle, 2 percent increase for walk, 11 percent decrease for transit, 0 percent change for other, 5 percent increase for drive alone, 8 percent increase for drive with others, and 3 percent decrease for TNC.

San Francisco residents still used priority modes twice as often as non-residents for trips within San Francisco. Respondents with a household income of $75,000 or less had the highest transit ridership, while a majority of those with incomes over $75,000 chose non-priority modes. Individuals identifying as women or non-binary were more likely to travel by privately owned vehicles than those identifying as men.

The Future of Travel

Many of the travel pattern changes revealed by the survey were likely a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which many people limited their non-essential travel and worked from home instead of commuting to an office.

But as the city recovers from the effects of the pandemic and travel begins to increase, we urgently need to educate Bay Area residents about how their travel decisions impact our environment. To meet San Francisco’s climate goals, including net zero emissions by the year 2040, it is critical that many of us shift from driving personal vehicles to taking public transit, walking, bicycling and using other “non-carbon” travel modes.

To encourage that shift, the SFMTA has improved the speed and reliability of our most popular bus lines by creating an unprecedented number of transit lanes. We introduced changes to make Muni more equitable. We recently increased the staff presence on Muni vehicles to deter crime and increase safety. We also upgraded our transit fleet HVAC systems, which now turn the air over once every minute. Earlier this month, we launched the Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit Corridor, and later this year the Central Subway extension to Chinatown will be open to one and all.

To complement transit use, we have created safe bicycling and walking routes throughout San Francisco. The city now boasts 42 miles of protected bike lanes and approximately 43 miles of Slow Streets where through traffic is limited. By lowering speed limits and completing Quick Build street improvements, we’ve made walking and bicycling safer and more comfortable.

Now, we need to make sure people in the San Francisco Bay Area know about and take advantage of these improvements.

The 2021 Travel Decision Survey report and results are available to download here.

Published April 19, 2022 at 08:02PM
https://ift.tt/v9gLHZ8

Comments

New top story from Time: Poll: Less Than Half of American Adults Now Belong to a House of Worship

https://ift.tt/3waLKsA For the first time in over 80 years of surveys on the subject, new Gallup data analysis released March 29 found that just 47% of American adults said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque in 2020—the first time that less than half of respondents reported membership at such houses of worship. Gallup has documented a decline for decades, with particularly steep drops apparent in recent years. When the analytics company first asked about church, synagogue or mosque membership in 1937, 73% of respondents said they belonged to one. (Gallup’s question does not explicitly include other faith centers, such as Buddhist, Sikh or Hindu temples or meeting houses.) That percentage stayed around the same until the turn of the century; in 1999, 70% of U.S. adults still said they belonged to one of the three. But, based on annual aggregated data from two surveys Gallup asks each year, by the mid-2000s it had dropped to around 60% and by 2018 it was 50%. ...

FOX NEWS: Canine influenza outbreak: What dog owners need to know A canine influenza outbreak in Los Angeles is drawing up concern among pet owners on the West Coast.

Canine influenza outbreak: What dog owners need to know A canine influenza outbreak in Los Angeles is drawing up concern among pet owners on the West Coast. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3nTXOuM

Farmers' protest: Delhi borders continue to remain closed, traffic diverted https://ift.tt/2Xrcm8D

The Delhi Police on Monday informed that Chilla and Ghazipur borders are closed for traffic coming from Noida and Ghaziabad to the national capital due to ongoing farmer protests. People have been advised to take alternate routes via Anand Vihar, Delhi-Noida Direct Flyway, Bhopra and Loni borders.

New top story from Time: Germany Has Officially Recognized Colonial-Era Atrocities in Namibia. But For Some, Reconciliation Is a Long Way Off

https://ift.tt/3fVRkaO The German government formally recognized colonial-era atrocities against the Herero and Nama people in modern-day Namibia for the first time, referring to the early 20th century massacres as “genocide” on Friday and pledging to pay a “ gesture to recognize the immense suffering inflicted.” “In light of the historical and moral responsibility of Germany, we will ask Namibia and the descendants of the victims for forgiveness,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in a statement , adding that the German government will fund projects related to “reconstruction and the development” of Namibia amounting to €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion). The sum will be paid out over 30 years and must primarily benefit the descendants of the Herero and Nama, Agence France-Presse reported . [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Although it’s a significant step for a once colonial power to agree such a deal with a former colony, there’s skepticism among some experts and ob...

New top story from Time: All 53 People Aboard Indonesia Submarine Declared Dead After Vessel’s Wreckage Found

https://ift.tt/3ezrzg5 ANYUWANGI, Indonesia — Indonesia’s military on Sunday officially said all 53 crew members from a submarine that sank and broke apart last week are dead, and that search teams had located the vessel’s wreckage on the ocean floor. The grim announcement comes a day after Indonesia said the submarine was considered sunk, not merely missing , but did not explicitly say whether the crew was dead. Officials had also said the KRI Nanggala 402’s oxygen supply would have run out early Saturday, three days after vessel went missing off the resort island of Bali. “We received underwater pictures that are confirmed as the parts of the submarine, including its rear vertical rudder, anchors, outer pressure body, embossed dive rudder and other ship parts,” military chief Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters in Bali on Sunday. “With this authentic evidence, we can declare that KRI Nanggala 402 has sunk and all the crew members are dead,” Tjahjanto said. An underwater ro...

New top story from Time: House Progressives Say They’re ‘Holding the Line’ to Preserve Democratic Agenda

https://ift.tt/3ukZsZm After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that she may push through the bipartisan infrastructure bill ahead of the Democrats’ larger social spending package, some House progressives say they are sticking with their original position: they won’t support the first bill unless they also get a vote on the second. The infrastructure bill is a bipartisan plan to improve the country’s aging roads and bridges, while the Build Back Better spending bill is an ambitious social funding package that includes once-in-a-generation investments in childcare, home care, education and climate change mitigation. Facing a slim margin in the House and a 50-50 Senate, Democrats had planned to advance both bills at once to appease the moderate and progressive wings of the party, betting the fate of Joe Biden’s domestic agenda on the bills’ joint success. But now that plan is falling apart . [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “We are a yes on the President’s agenda, a yes o...

New top story from Time: Islamist Terrorism Is Not Done With Us, Warns Former al Qaeda Hostage Theo Padnos

https://ift.tt/37PYmL0 Remember ISIS? How about al Qaeda? It was not long ago (on the calendar, at least) that either name could summon, if not profound discomfort, at least a hint of the queasiness that swept over Theo Padnos as he sat in front of a TV in southwestern Syria the morning of Aug. 20, 2014. At the time, Padnos was a prisoner of al Qaeda, the terrorist group that commanded the attention of the entire world back when a radical religious ideology was considered the major threat to life as we know it. But that morning, Padnos watched in real time as Osama bin Laden’s creation lost top billing. In his new book Blindfold: A Memoir of Capture, Torture, and Enlightenment , the writer sets the scene: After almost two years in tiny cells, with occasional breaks for torture, the American journalist is enjoying a measure of freedom. Padnos had just spent days in in a Toyota Hilux with the burly head of al Qaeda in Syria, Abu Maria al-Qahtani, driving across the country...

New top story from Time: 2020 Is Finally Ending, but New Year’s Revelries Are Muted by the Coronavirus

https://ift.tt/3n6kcP7 CANBERRA, Australia — This New Year’s Eve is being celebrated like no other, with pandemic restrictions limiting crowds and many people bidding farewell to a year they’d prefer to forget. Australia will be among the first nations to ring in 2021 because of its proximity to the International Date Line. In past years 1 million people crowded Sydney’s harbor to watch fireworks that center on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Authorities this year are advising revelers to watch on television. People are only allowed in downtown Sydney if they have a restaurant reservation or are one of five guests of an inner-city apartment resident. People won’t be allowed in the city center without a permit. Some haborside restaurants are charging up to 1,690 Australian dollars ($1,294) for a seat, Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Wednesday. Sydney is Australia’s most populous city and has its most active community transmission of COVID-19 in recent weeks. ...

New top story from Time: There’s Nothing Stopping Democrats from Going it Alone on Infrastructure — Except Democrats

https://ift.tt/3vfOIKY This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday. If Democrats wanted to pass a straight, party-line infrastructure plan with a price tag reaching into 13 digits, they could. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrested a green-light from the Senate’s rules maven in February that would let Democrats jam a massive spending plan through a budgeting loophole. And, assuming every Democrat holds the line and Vice President Kamala Harris is available that day, Democrats have the votes to spend the $2 trillion on roads, airports, schools and the Internet that President Joe Biden has outlined. Republicans can whine and attack, but they can’t stop it without Democratic help. Democrats, however, aren’t willing to go that route — at least not yet. The specifics differ among camps but the overriding desire here is the same: Democrats want to stay in power, and the bl...

New top story from Time: Here’s What’s New on Amazon Prime in April 2021

https://ift.tt/3fvr7S6 THEM, a new series following a Black family that moves to Los Angeles in the 1950s, promises to thrill audiences in April 2021 when it lands on Amazon Prime Video. Also coming to the streaming platform in April is Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse , starring Michael B. Jordan as a Navy SEAL seeking to avenge the murder of his pregnant wife when he stumbles on an international conspiracy. A collection of classic and beloved comedies are also streaming on Amazon Prime Video in April 2021, including My Cousin Vinny , Four Weddings and a Funeral and Forgetting Sarah Marshall . Here are all the series and movies available on Amazon Prime Video this month. Here are the new Amazon Prime Video originals in April 2021 Available April 9 THEM Available April 30 Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse Here are the movies streaming on Amazon Prime Video in April 2021 Available April 1 A Hologram For The King Anna Karenina Art of Falling in Love A Simple Plan Be...

My precise view

Search This Blog