A recent poll revealed the top cities in the U.S. for one person per vehicle commuting. At the top of the list was Canton, Ohio. Number was the city in which I work Fort Wayne, Indiana. In fact the top ten were all medium sized cities in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and one in Wisconsin. Only one major city made the list, Detroit. Hardly surprising being it is the "Motor City".
At cursory glance it sounds like sound condemnation against the "red state hicks". A point which a local politician (and failed democratic congressional candidate) seized to express his dissatisfaction with the local communities lack of "green initiatives". But not so fast Sunshine.
First, the numbers used are percentage per capitia, hardly an indictment against the gas guzzling, environmentally unfriendly, SUV driving citizenry of our community. If you do the math the 85% Fort Wayne scored equates to 50.000 or so single occupant vehicles commuting. Contrast that with with several hundreds of thousands that commute into the Chicago area and it makes this poll seem pretty silly. In Fact the top five cities on this poll combined have less single occupant commuters combined than the entire L.A. area.
Second, Fort Wayne is not exactly a Mecca of public transportation. There is no public rail system running from the community I live to where I work. Nor do I have anyone living near me with that is employed with my company. The old girl works in Fort Wayne but we work different hours. SO what are my options here?
I wonder what this poll is really meant to illustrate....
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