Fast Cars and Freedom: Portlanders Still Prefer Freedom & Privacy of Their Own Cars

September 28, 2011

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As I pointed out recently this in this post, cars equal freedom. Just ask a 16 year old with a newly minted driver’s license and a car key if you doubt me.

Now a new study shows most Portlanders seem to agree.

Census Bureau Data

Despite clear cutting a neighborhood to make room for light rail trains we can’t afford, agonizingly slow street cars on newly created one way streets and fluorescent green bike boxes (“Bikes in front of cars” as Mayor Sam Adams puts it),  people in Portland prefer to drive alone to work. They like it that way. They like the privacy. They like the freedom.

And it seems that Portlanders like driving more than their LA counterparts.

According to the Census Bureau in its just released study, “Journey to Work,”highlighted in the Zero (here):

As has long been the case, the vast majority of the region’s residents prefer to drive alone to work daily. Public-transit usage actually dropped from 6.3 percent in 2008. Of course, the survey was taken at a time when the recession caused huge drops in TriMet ridership.

Emphasis added by the Zero’s unbiased staff.  But why do people prefer cars? Probably because they’re faster:

Driving is Faster (Census Bureau Data)
College Towns Have More Bicyclists–Sorry Sam

Tell ’em where you saw it. Http://www.victoriataft.com