The front page of the Seattle Times launched the big news for commuters today: “As downtown jobs grow, workers turn to transit.”
Driving that headline was the announcement that less than 30 percent of nearly 250,000 commuters to downtown Seattle drive alone, and 70 percent take transit, rideshare, bike, walk and telework.
It’s something riders have watched evolve over time. Record downtown Seattle job growth spurred public and private transportation investment during the past decade. Voter-approved ballot measures continued to pay to expand transit service. And the downward spiral of solo drivers continued. (35 percent in 2010; 34 percent in 2012 and 31 percent in 2014.)
Downtown Seattle added 45,000 jobs from 2010 to 2016, and an impressive 95 percent of the net increase in daily commute trips have been absorbed by transit, rideshare, biking and walking.
Public transit remains the top choice for downtown commuters (47%), with ridesharing, (9%), walking (6%), bicycling (3%), and teleworking (3%) rounding out the 70 percent of commuters not driving alone.
Did you know there are 31,000 more daily peak transit commuters, 9,000 additional non-motorized commuters, and 2,300 more vanpool/carpool riders since 2010? Solo drivers increased by only 2,255 during peak hours.
The results fulfill a 10-year goal to reduce the downtown Seattle peak commute drive-alone rate to 30 percent, accomplished by Commute Seattle at the direction of the Downtown Transportation Alliance (DTA)—a public-private partnership comprised of the Downtown Seattle Association, the City of Seattle (SDOT & OPCD), King County Metro and Sound Transit.