FINAL UPDATE: Delay at Jackson and Mason has cleared. OB Hyde and Mason Cable Car lines resuming service. (More: 17 in last 48 hours)
Transit Tuesday

SF Lists in the News

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Who doesn’t love a good list? We’ve got three for you in today’s news tidbits. The first is a list of the top U.S. transit systems according to average commute times, percentage of the population using transit, total population using transit and the relative income of transit users to the general population. The second offers a broader perspective by ranking the livability of cities around the globe. The third is the benchmarking report from the Alliance for Biking and Walking – of course, it’s full of lists and graphs and all kinds of data-crunching. 

View from Bernal Heights of Mission District rooftops, Sutro Tower and a blue sky with scattered clouds.

The SmartAsset financial firm’s list of the country’s top cities for public transit has been making the rounds. San Francisco came in second after Washington, DC.  The list uses Census data for every U.S. city with a population of more than 175,000 to measure:

  • The average commute time for transit users.
  • Percentage difference between average commute times of car commuters and transit users.
  • Percentage of commuters who use public transit.
  • Total number of commuters who use public transit.
  • The difference between the citywide median income and the median income of transit users.

The top five were DC, us (yay!), Boston, Chicago and New York. It’s a useful list of metrics as we look for the best ways to make transit in our town more efficient and attractive to residents and visitors.

One of the best take-aways from their report is this: “Transit is gaining steam. The total number of transit users was up 9% from 2011 in the 136 cities in SmartAsset’s analysis. In major cities in the west and in Texas, including San Jose, Dallas, Seattle and Denver, transit use increased by more than 20%.”

"The Best U.S. Cities for Public Transportation" graphic with cities listed below.

The next list is from a global human resources consulting firm, Mercer. Their annual “Quality of Living” ranking around the globe has some clear winners (Europe) and some even starker losers (think active war zone). SF comes out fairly strong. While we’re slightly ahead of Singapore, we don’t hold a candle to Vienna. We are, however, the only U.S. city to make the top five for North America. The other U.S. cities ranked behind us are Boston, Honolulu, Chicago and New York.

The third data-driven assessment comes from the Alliance for Walking and Biking. Their hefty Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2016 Benchmarking Report has us last on one important list – SF has the lowest rate of fatalities for walking and cycling in the nation (p 40). In addition, we have, among bigger U.S. cities, one of the top rates of walking and bicycling.

On Tuesdays we bring you a tidbit of transit news or trivia, either from our own backyard or from around the globe.