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Daily travel, the ability to get where we need be, is important to all of us. <br />This report is about daily travel in the Twin Cities metropolitan area as revealed in <br />a major 1990 study. "The daily rat race is picking up," proclaimed one early <br />news report on the study. Indeed,- total traffic in the region took a significant jump <br />in the 20 years since a similar travel behavior study was last done in 1970. <br />Population, and the number of households, jobs, workers and licensed drivers <br />were all increasing during that time. An expanding urban region with a <br />highly mobile populace creates a dynamic new picture of daily travel. <br />Consider some. of these significant findings: <br />• The car has become "king." The number of two-car households has <br />doubled since 1970. The preferred way to travel within the region is clearly <br />driving alone, accounting for almost half of all trips and over 80 percent <br />of all work-related travel. <br />• Today the .typical area resident is making more and longer trips than <br />20 years ago. The average traveler now spends one and a half hours per day <br />traveling in the region,-makes S trips and covers 32 miles. The average <br />distance traveled to work is 9 miles and takes 20 minutes. <br />• The importance of public transit to the region's residents is somewhat <br />hidden in the overall travel statistics. Although buses moved only <br />2.5 percent of all trips and 5.5 percent of all work trips, bus trips were <br />reported by 10 percent of all households, representing 1 in 20 people in <br />the region. Within the lowest quartile of households by income, <br />nearly one in five used transit <br />Jobs, homes and travel have moved to the suburbs. <br />• In 1970, 54 percent of the region's households were outside <br />Minneapolis/St Pat:tl; by 1990, the number was 69 percent <br />-~ • In 1970, 44 percent of the region's jobs were outside Minneapolis/St Paul; <br />by 1990, the number was 63 percent <br /> <br />v <br />