For the first full pandemic year, US Census data shows a dip in walking, biking, transit

The story of the 2021 commute is unsurprisingly the number of US workers who worked from home. Here in Pittsburgh, the 2021 Census numbers show that 30%, or roughly 45,000 Pittsburgh workers did so, a share that is fairly high compared to largest 60 US cities. This shift to remote work has had ripple effects across other mode shares.

However, the 2021 stats, the first American Community Survey (ACS) collected during a full pandemic year, have some striking and sometimes troubling results for those of us looking to reduce dependency on automobiles as there was an increase in car ownership and those who drove alone. To keep Pittsburgh affordable, fight climate change and pollution, and encourage physical activity, local leaders will need to work hard and fund projects to make up for these losses as we head back to in-person employment.

While Pittsburgh’s total population has shrunk by about 10,000 people since 2005, the number of people in the workforce has actually increased over the same period by about 20,000. Even with the pandemic induced drop, Pittsburgh has been on an upward trend in the number of residents who are employed. Many factors contributed to this dynamic, but it’s clear that more jobs close to where people live would result in lower rates of driving. 

Since 2006, we’ve been reporting on the US Census’ American Community Survey (ACS) of commuting trends in Pittsburgh and across the 60 largest cities in the country, while sprinkling in a bit of analysis. Mainly, it’s a way for us to keep track of commuting trends both locally and around the US to see how we’re doing toward making it easier for people to get around without a car.

These numbers are completely based on trips to work, so it’s of a limited scope, but they do provide a consistent, year after year dataset to reflect on, even though the survey ignores non-work trips, multimodal trips, the unemployed, children, and retirees.

Below are some takeaways from the 2021 American Community Survey.

Previous years: 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2018 | 2019

Click tabs to toggle between modes. Note: work from home added with select comparable US Cities

Working from Home

While it was unsurprising that the number of people working from home experienced a dramatic increase, it was a bit shocking to see the total number that had. About 30% of Pittsburghers worked from home last year, which is fairly high compared to comparable cities. In the above chart, we’ve added several comparable US cities to see how we rank for percentage of residents working remotely.

This humongous shift toward working from home, essentially eliminating the commute, has had a ripple effect on other modes of transport. 

Biking and walking decreased 

Biking and walking to work both decreased a small amount last year, but it’s worth noting that overall biking and walking, for non-work trips and recreation, likely went up. The pandemic inspired a bike boom as people were looking for ways to stay active as gyms were shut down. Electric bikes are much more prevalent than ever before. Compared to the 60 largest US cities, Pittsburgh still ranks in the top 15 cities for bike commuting, as well as the top 5 for walk commuting.

Transit plunged

Of all modes, transit took the deepest plunge, dropping by nearly half. These numbers will likely go up as people go back to the office, but there is no doubt that the trend is concerning. Transit is the backbone of a city that values affordable, car-free transportation, and there is a fear that further cuts to service will have a lasting impact that will be difficult to recover. Even with the plunge, Pittsburgh still ranks 7th in the nation (of the 60 largest cities) for transit commuters. However, recent polling suggests there is hope for transit.

Driving alone

The number of people who drove alone shrunk, which is a good thing. However, looking a bit deeper, it seems that more people bought a car, as the number of workers without a vehicle also decreased. The further dependence on the automobile is yet another negative feature of the pandemic. Even so, Pittsburgh still ranks in the top 10 for lowest percent of workers who drive alone.

Carpooling dropped

Pittsburghers carpool to work at a significant rate. Unsurprisingly, the pandemic drove down the number of people who do so. This is also reflected in the recorded increase in workers who own a car.

WHAT IS THE ACS?

The American Community Survey (ACS) is the country’s largest household survey, gathering data from workers that live in their city and how they get to their job, wherever that may be. The ACS reports its findings yearly. With a sample size of about 3 million addresses, this is only an estimate, but is by far the best tool that we have for understanding trends in the United States. The survey uses questionnaires and interviews to gather information on demographic, economic, and housing characteristics.

REFERENCE POINTS:

Results are based on a survey that asks a subset of the larger population questions about their previous week of travel.

The ACS asks only about commuting, it does not tell us about bicycling for non-work purposes. This leaves out a significant group of people and only paints part of the true transportation picture.

When asking about an individual’s journey to work, the survey asks about “the primary mode of transportation to work.” This wording undercounts the actual amount of bike commuting as it does not consider people who ride only a few times a week or who utilize multimodal transit, like those who bike to a light rail station (if the transit leg is longer than the bike leg).
It is important to remember that these are estimates. The ACS does release a margin of error metric along with each estimate, which individuals can use to find the interval in which the ACS is 90% confident that the estimate lies within. This can be done by adding and subtracting the margin of error value from the estimate using the data on the ACS site.

Surveys take place throughout the year. This helps mitigate the problem that occurs with people changing the mode of transport based on the season/weather conditions but doesn’t resolve it fully.

Yearly changes may not be statistically significant.

The numbers reported here are for the “principal city,” not the larger Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which means we’re only counting how residents of Pittsburgh get to their job, wherever that may be.