Bay Area Drivers Spend Two Full Days in Cars
The commute time numbers are actually down.
This is a snapshot look at what Bay Area drivers faced in 1997 when BART workers went on strike for a week. We could be in for another taste of traffic jam hell come July 1 if talks fail.
Two days in a car. That’s how much time many Bay Area commuters waste driving to and from work.
The Texas Transportation Institute found that in 2007, drivers in San Francisco and Oakland, which were 5th worst nationwide, spent 55 hours in traffic. San Jose ranked 6th worst in the U.S. with an average of 53 hours.
We smash the national average which is 36 hours.
In spite of that huge amount of time, the numbers are actually down.
The study found more people are driving less because of higher gas prices and because more of us can afford to live closer to work because the housing crisis is lowering real estate prices.
Traffic congestion in 2007 cost Americans more than $87-billion in terms of fuel and lost productivity.
Posted Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 - 12:23 PM PST
