A new study issued by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority confirms: commuting in the city has turned into an absolute crawl.
The study found that speeds during the morning commute have slowed to 14.6 miles an hour. During the evening commute, the average speed for commuters heading home slowed down even more to 12.7 miles an hour, a 21-percent drop from two years ago.
"That is a consequence of this being a booming economy, a popular city," said Eric Young with the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. "More people want to live here and there are a lot of opportunities here."
With more people from across the Bay Area traveling into San Francisco to work, keeping up with the congestion has been tough for the transportation authority.
"It's very difficult driving in the city now," commuter Suzanne Roomian said. "However the economy's great, everybody's working and I think it's kind of collateral damage."
Transportation officials said they are working hard to ease the gridlock. Efforts to ease congestion include red carpet lanes, dedicated lanes for buses and more bus lines. In fact, bus travel times are holding relatively steady compared to cars.
Many commuters said public transit may be the best alternative to sitting in traffic.
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"It's simple, less stress and you don't have to pay attention," commuter Warren Cole said.
