2013

Downtown
Commute Survey
About the 2013 Downtown Commute Survey
Goal: understand and improve access to and
within downtown for employees by identifying
commute trends of downtown workers
Survey Conducted: March 2013 May 2013
13,810 employees completed the survey

Distribution of Downtown Employees
Travel Options
High quality park and ride bus service
METRO rail and local bus service
Unparalleled automobile access
Extensive HOV/HOT highway network
Vanpools/Carpools
Greenlink
Bikeways and B-Cycle
Skywalks, tunnels and sidewalks

2013 Commute Mode Split
SOV 56.8%
Bus/Rail 6.2%
Walk 1.2%
Bicycle 0.3%
Motorcycle/
Scooter 0.4%
n = 12,701
Park & Ride 25.8%
Carpool/Vanpool 9.3%
Mode Split Compared to Region
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
SOV Carpool Public Transportation Walk Other
Census Commute to Work
Downtown survey Houston MSA
Commute Mode by Industry
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Commute Mode by Industry (revised)
SOV Combined Transit Carpool/Vanpool Active Walk/Bike
n = 12,635
Commute Distance
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
<1 mile 1 - 2 3 - 4 5 - 9 10 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50+
Mode by Commute Distance up to 50+
SOV Park & Ride Bus/Rail Carpool/Vanpool Motorcycle/Scooter Active Walk/Bike
Opportunity for High-Frequency Local Transit
Commute Mode by Age
Age vs. Distance
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
< 5 miles 5-9 10-19 20-29 > 30 miles
% of distance commutes made by given age group
< 30 yrs
30-39
40-49
50-59
> 60 yrs
n = 11,520
Unmet Demand for Transit
Primary
Back-up SOV
Carpool
Vanpool
Motorcycle
Scooter
Park &
Ride
Local
Bus/Rail

Bicycle

Walk
SOV - 72.3%
63.0%
77.3% 71.6%
47.4% 48.0%
Carpool/Vanpool 42.7% -
10.9%
14.5% 16.1%
5.3% 7.8%
Telecommute 20.2% 2.2%
0.0%
7.3% 5.2%
0.0% 7.8%
Bus 25.1% 23.4%
26.1%
- -
36.8% 27.5%
Rail 6.8% 0.6%
*
- -
* *
Bicycle 1.9% 0.4%
0.0%
0.1% 2.0%
- 8.8%
Walk 1.8% 0.3%
0.0%
0.2% 4.2%
10.5% -
Motorcycle/Scooter 1.6% 0.8%
-
0.6% 0.8%
0.0% 0.0%
n = 4,745 1,116
46
3,177 496
38 102
Transportation Incentives
68%
64%
55%
55%
29%
21%
28%
33%
34%
65%
9%
6%
10%
9%
0.0%
2.2% 1.7%
1.2%
1.8%
5.9%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Parking
only
Parking and
Transit
Parking, Transit
and Van/Carpool
Parking and
Van/Carpool
Transit
only
Mode Split by Type of Subsidy
SOV Combined Transit Carpool/Vanpool Active Walk/Bike n = 11,637
AM Peak Travel Times
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Time Commuters Leave Home
SOV Park & Ride Local Bus/Rail Carpool/Vanpool
Motorcycle/Scooter Bicycle Walk
SOV, Local Bus/Rail peak P&R , Car/Vanpool peak
Bicycle, Walk peak
PM Peak Travel Times
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Leaving Work
SOV Park & Ride Local Bus/Rail Carpool/Vanpool
Motorcycle/Scooter Bicycle Walk
SOV, Local Bus/Rail, Bicycle peak P&R , Car/Vanpool,
Motorcycle/Scooter peak
Walk peak
Change Since 2009
8.4
-3.0
-1.7
-3.3
0.2
0.0
-0.1
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
SOV Park
& Ride
Local
Bus/Rail
Carpool
Vanpool
Walk Bicycle Motorcycle
Scooter
C
h
a
n
g
e

i
n

%

p
o
i
n
t
s

2
0
0
9

t
o

2
0
1
3
Downtown commute mode split
change in points from prior survey
Economic Recession
6.7%
6.2%
5.6%
5.0%
4.3%
4.8%
7.5%
8.5%
8.1%
6.8%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
R
e
g
i
o
n
a
l

u
n
e
m
p
l
o
y
m
e
n
t

r
a
t
e
Unemployment Rate: Houston region MSA
Opportunities Moving Forward
Car sharing
Downtown Living Initiative
Extension of HOV lanes
Dynamic real time toll pricing
METRO System Reimagining

Further Information
Full report along with maps
can be found at
http://downtownhouston.org
under Resources-
Transportation