Longest Commute

Residents of Washington's outer suburbs endure some of the nation's longest commutes, according to a U.S. Census survey released yesterday that also showed clogged roads and high gasoline prices are pushing a growing number of people onto mass transit.

The region's average commute is more than 33 minutes one way, ranking second to the New York area's 34 minutes among large metropolitan regions. In Calvert, Prince William and Stafford counties, however, the average journey to work takes 40 minutes or more, according to the 2005 American Community Survey of households.

These long commutes are fueled by new housing popping up rapidly in the region's outer fringes, where most residents travel to counties closer to the District to work, transportation experts say. Pushing up the numbers is the region's high employment level, which includes the parents of the vast majority of the region's preschoolers. The region also ranks high in the share of people who commute outside their home county, as more than half do.

As roads have jammed and fuel prices have soared, thousands of people have switched from cars to public transportation, the survey figures indicate.

The Washington area, where 13 percent of workers get to their jobs by bus or rail, ranks behind only New York and San Francisco in use of mass transit. The region has zoomed past Boston and Chicago since the 2000 Census. Two-thirds of workers still drive to their jobs alone, but that share appears to have leveled off since 2000. The popularity of carpools continues to fade. Read more here...