Uhhhh, what does COMMUTS mean???? Does it mean you need to hire me as a proof editor??? I think it is way over half from what I see on the roads.....

You see? This proves it! The War on Cars is real! And the Cars are losing! It's time to rev up the stretch-limo Hummers and take back the streets.

Great numbers. I dont know Boston at all, but those other 3 cities have ROBUST public transportation. If I have to wait an hour for a bus during the day to get downtown or back, that is not robust public transport.

I would use buses/trains/lightrail every day if all the buses didnt go downtown then require transfers. it would take me over an hour to get to SCCA from Magnolia by bus, 25 mins by car.

maybe by the time they connect the light rail to Ballard, I will be retired.

This is only people who live in Seattle.

Suburbs full of people driving alone, using Seattle services, and whining about us not giving them free parking while the pollute here and slow down our Citizens ability to get around by bus, bike, carpool or foot.

A great start! But since it's going to be busses for a long time to come, how about more bus-only rights of way? How about a permanent conversion of 3rd ave to transit only? How about Rapid Ride making fewer stops and acting like a true express route? 18 stops between Leary Way and 3rd & Pike is about 8 too many.

I'd love to ride a nice, clean, fast, grade-separated train but that's a looooong way off for most of us.

Along the lines of what @5 said, lets not construe this Seattle Bike Blog post as some affirmation of Seattle having great public transportation--it's adequate at best during the rush hour for those who live in the city particularly those with close access to downtown and somewhere between mediocre and bad off peak hours.

It sounds like more of the narcissistic pollyana boosterism you get from the local media.

@9 but the tax-subsidized wastrels in the rest of the state won't let us do that ...

People alone in cars went down...but the total number using cars is 58% and if I subtract the changes in the other modes (+4%), total car use hasn't really changed that much.

In fact, back in 1993 when Metro proposed its light rail numbers it said that the most expensive plan, at $9 billion, would at best reduce traffic by 3%. After spending $20 billion, we go that...and a little more.

(Oh, and if you are referring to New York, then $30-40 parking rates are hardly "allowing a diversity of choice".)

And still the state legislature will do everything it can to cut bus service in Seattle. It's why I ended up buying a car this summer: I can now get around on the weekends. Yeah, I still bus to work and when I can and in the three months I've had the car I've put on less than 900 miles. But let's face it: until Seattle is allowed to pump our own money into buses, rail and better bike lanes (Eastlake anyone?) things are going to get worse unless things change drastically in Olympia

You know, San Francisco might have ok public transit but the surrounding area is total crap. I'd love to see Seattle stop comparing themselves to this city. Compared to Seattle, it's a dump.

"But let's face it: until Seattle is allowed to pump our own money into buses, rail and better bike lanes (Eastlake anyone?) things are going to get worse unless things change drastically in Olympia "

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Pump your own money into it, scumbag. Not mine. Fuck you.

And bikes account for less than 5% - but we should ignore the actual number and focus on the growth. (snort) In the meantime, roughly 20% use public transportation (which in Seattle means buses) whose commutes will get longer as more and more arterials get "calmed" and more congested due to dedicated bike lanes sucking up a big percentage of the pavement.

Another McGinn term would likely _increase_ the percentage of SOVs as folks abandon buses to find their own ways around the ever more congested arterials.

Instead of dedicated bike lanes, we should be looking at dedicated bus lanes. But the bicycle lobby is me-me-me first.

#12, you bought a car because sometime in the future they might cut bus service? Either you're stupid, or a liar, or a stupid liar. Come on, would it kill ya to tell the truth and say ya bought yourself a car because ya wanted a car?

Your source for that data point about five cities in the country was Seattlish? Seriously? They don't say a thing about where they came up with that stat. You just take their word for it?