March 31, 2005
The Long and Winding Road, to Work: Many Travel 90 Minutes or More, One Way
By PATRICK McGEEHAN The New York Times
If extreme commuting were an Olympic event, there would be no better place to train for it than in New York and northern New Jersey, a report released yesterday by the Census Bureau shows.
New York and New Jersey stood apart from all other states in the share of their residents who spend more than 90 minutes traveling to work each day, according to the report. The morning commute took that long for at least one of every 25 workers in the two states, it showed.
Many parts of the region scored high in what the Census Bureau calls "extreme" commuting, but Staten Islanders are the unrivaled champions of the long slog. One of every nine workers on Staten Island had a commute of 90 minutes or more, according to the report, which analyzed survey responses collected in 2003.
"It's atrocious and it gets worse every year," said Rep. Vito J. Fossella, a Republican whose district includes Staten Island and part of Brooklyn. "When it comes to transportation, Staten Island is still the forgotten borough."
Because the island is not connected to the rest of the city by subway or a commuter railway, its residents depend on ferries and express buses to get to workplaces in Manhattan, Mr. Fossella said. But traffic is so thick in the morning that the buses often crawl across the island, he said.
Several commuters filing off those buses yesterday evening seconded Mr. Fossella's account of the slow motion.
"It's exhausting, especially when you have to stand," said Teressa Celia, 43, who works as a microbiologist on the Lower East Side.
Ms. Celia said she had found a seat on the 4 p.m. bus but would probably have had to stand if she had left work an hour later. After the 90-minute bus trip to a parking lot in the neighborhood of Eltingville, she still faced a five-minute drive to her home in the Pleasant Plains section.
According to the census report, six of the seven counties in America with the highest concentration of extreme commuters were in New York. Richmond County, home to Staten Island, topped the list with 11.8 percent of its residents spending 90 minutes or more getting to work. Only Orange County came close, with 10 percent. Queens and Bronx Counties were third and fourth, respectively. The only place outside New York that cracked the top seven was McHenry County in Illinois, near Chicago, which was fifth. Nassau and Kings Counties rounded out the top seven.
Among residents of big cities, New Yorkers had the longest average commutes, clocking in at 38.3 minutes. But Chicago, at 33.2 minutes, and the area surrounding Newark in northern New Jersey, at 31.5 minutes, were closing the gap, according to the census bureau's data.
A report last year that analyzed 2002 survey data showed a similar result for New Yorkers, an average commute of 38.4 minutes. But back then, the average commute for Chicagoans lasted 32.7 minutes and for New Jerseyans it was only 27.6 minutes.
The national average in 2003 was 24.3 minutes, yesterday's report said.
Martin Robins, executive director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, said that in some cases, suburbanites have chosen to live a long way from their jobs, but in others, the jobs have moved away from the workers. "It's not one way or the other," he said.
Some people do not mind a longer trip, especially if it is on a comfortable train or bus where they can sleep, read or make phone calls, Mr. Robins said. But Brian Fineman, director of systems planning for the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority in Newark, said the typical American commute lasts less than 30 minutes.
"We find that people set aside a certain amount of time, 30 minutes, not much more than that," Mr. Fineman said. "These extreme commutes are still rare."
Except on Staten Island, where Mr. Fossella has been demanding that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority provide more express bus service. He said that those responsible for providing mass transportation for city residents should pay heed to the figures.
"We really have been long ignored and I think these numbers prove it," he said.
The Long and Winding Road, to Work: Many Travel 90 Minutes or More, One Way
By PATRICK McGEEHAN The New York Times
If extreme commuting were an Olympic event, there would be no better place to train for it than in New York and northern New Jersey, a report released yesterday by the Census Bureau shows.
New York and New Jersey stood apart from all other states in the share of their residents who spend more than 90 minutes traveling to work each day, according to the report. The morning commute took that long for at least one of every 25 workers in the two states, it showed.
Many parts of the region scored high in what the Census Bureau calls "extreme" commuting, but Staten Islanders are the unrivaled champions of the long slog. One of every nine workers on Staten Island had a commute of 90 minutes or more, according to the report, which analyzed survey responses collected in 2003.
"It's atrocious and it gets worse every year," said Rep. Vito J. Fossella, a Republican whose district includes Staten Island and part of Brooklyn. "When it comes to transportation, Staten Island is still the forgotten borough."
Because the island is not connected to the rest of the city by subway or a commuter railway, its residents depend on ferries and express buses to get to workplaces in Manhattan, Mr. Fossella said. But traffic is so thick in the morning that the buses often crawl across the island, he said.
Several commuters filing off those buses yesterday evening seconded Mr. Fossella's account of the slow motion.
"It's exhausting, especially when you have to stand," said Teressa Celia, 43, who works as a microbiologist on the Lower East Side.
Ms. Celia said she had found a seat on the 4 p.m. bus but would probably have had to stand if she had left work an hour later. After the 90-minute bus trip to a parking lot in the neighborhood of Eltingville, she still faced a five-minute drive to her home in the Pleasant Plains section.
According to the census report, six of the seven counties in America with the highest concentration of extreme commuters were in New York. Richmond County, home to Staten Island, topped the list with 11.8 percent of its residents spending 90 minutes or more getting to work. Only Orange County came close, with 10 percent. Queens and Bronx Counties were third and fourth, respectively. The only place outside New York that cracked the top seven was McHenry County in Illinois, near Chicago, which was fifth. Nassau and Kings Counties rounded out the top seven.
Among residents of big cities, New Yorkers had the longest average commutes, clocking in at 38.3 minutes. But Chicago, at 33.2 minutes, and the area surrounding Newark in northern New Jersey, at 31.5 minutes, were closing the gap, according to the census bureau's data.
A report last year that analyzed 2002 survey data showed a similar result for New Yorkers, an average commute of 38.4 minutes. But back then, the average commute for Chicagoans lasted 32.7 minutes and for New Jerseyans it was only 27.6 minutes.
The national average in 2003 was 24.3 minutes, yesterday's report said.
Martin Robins, executive director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, said that in some cases, suburbanites have chosen to live a long way from their jobs, but in others, the jobs have moved away from the workers. "It's not one way or the other," he said.
Some people do not mind a longer trip, especially if it is on a comfortable train or bus where they can sleep, read or make phone calls, Mr. Robins said. But Brian Fineman, director of systems planning for the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority in Newark, said the typical American commute lasts less than 30 minutes.
"We find that people set aside a certain amount of time, 30 minutes, not much more than that," Mr. Fineman said. "These extreme commutes are still rare."
Except on Staten Island, where Mr. Fossella has been demanding that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority provide more express bus service. He said that those responsible for providing mass transportation for city residents should pay heed to the figures.
"We really have been long ignored and I think these numbers prove it," he said.