Press Releases
For Immediate Release
2000 Census Shows Big Gains in Public Transit Ridership to Bay Area Downtowns
Contact:
Brenda Kahn
510.817.5773
Chuck Purvis
510.817.5755
OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 28, 2004...The number of workers commuting by public transit
to jobs in downtown San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose increased significantly between 1990 and 2000,
the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) reported today based on newly released
data from Census 2000. Public transit commuting to jobs in Downtown San Francisco increased by 18
percent, public transit commuting to Downtown Oakland increased by 45 percent and public transit
commuting to Downtown San Jose increased by 60 percent during the decade ending in 2000.
Overall, the number of people who commute daily by public transit in the nine-county San Francisco Bay
Area rose from 291,000 in 1990 to 320,000 in the year 2000, a 10 percent jump. Meanwhile, the total
number of commuters traveling to Bay Area jobs increased by 11 percent in the 1990s, going from 3.1
million per day in 1990 to over 3.4 million in 2000.
"What these figures tell us is that growth in the use of public transit has been keeping pace with the
growth in workers and jobs in the Bay Area," said MTC Chair Steve Kinsey.
At the same time, in the corridors feeding the region’s three core job areas, public transit has
outperformed other modes of transportation in terms of attracting new commuters. "The figures are
partly a response to the region’s chronic traffic congestion, and partly an endorsement of the
region’s policy decisions, and particularly moves in the direction of smarter growth," said
Kinsey. "The more we’ve invested in public transit infrastructure, the more we’ve focused
development along rail routes and around transit stations, and the more we’ve emphasized dense,
infill development in our urban core, the more commuters have flocked to public transit."
Downtown San Francisco retained its supremacy as the largest transit commute market in the Bay Area,
with 49 percent of the daily commuters headed for the 2.5-square-mile San Francisco business district
getting there by bus, streetcar, BART, ferry, cable car and the like. The number of people commuting by
public transit to Downtown San Francisco increased by 18 percent in the 1990s, reaching 156,800
commuters per day in the year 2000; this compares to a 13 percent increase in commuters arriving in
Downtown San Francisco by all means of transportation during the same time period.
Downtown Oakland is the second largest public transit commute market in the Bay Area, with public
transit capturing 24 percent of the daily commuters who traveled to that destination in 2000. The
number of workers commuting by public transit to jobs in Downtown Oakland leaped by 45 percent in the
1990s, reaching 15,200 commuters per day in the year 2000; this compares to a 22 percent increase in
commuters arriving in Downtown Oakland by all means of transportation during the same time period.
Downtown San Jose takes third place among the three public transit commute markets, with 7 percent of
daily commuters bound for that destination getting there by public transit in 2000. However, this
figure obscures significant growth in public transit ridership in the South Bay: The number of
commuters arriving in Downtown San Jose by public transit increased 60 percent during the 1990s, going
from 2,000 commuters per day in 1990 to 3,200 commuters per day in 2000.
While the 2000 Census paints a fairly rosy picture, data collected by MTC over the three years since
the last Census show a significant erosion of ridership among the more than two dozen public transit
agencies serving the San Francisco Bay Area.
"A strong economy goes hand in hand with strong public transit ridership," said Kinsey. "Due to job
losses, there are fewer people commuting to work overall. A weakened economy not only reduces commute
travel, but also affects levels of non-work trips and transit trips associated with tourism."
MTC is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco
Bay Area.
# # #
Census Table
Commuting by Public Transit in the San Francisco Bay Area,
1990 & 2000
Metropolitan Transportation Commission, January 28, 2004
A. Transit Commuting in the San Francisco Bay Area
| Workers commuting, by Transit, to
jobs in . . . . |
1990 Census |
2000 Census |
Percent Change,
|
| Downtown San Francisco |
132,600 |
156,800 |
+18% |
| Downtown Oakland |
10,500 |
15,200 |
+45% |
| Downtown San Jose |
2,000 |
3,200 |
+60% |
| Downtowns, Combined |
145,100 |
175,200 |
+21% |
| Rest of Bay Area |
146,000 |
144,900 |
-1% |
| Bay Area, TOTAL |
291,100 |
320,100 |
+10% |
| Downtowns as Share of Region |
50% |
55% |
|
B. Total Commuting in the San Francisco Bay Area
| Workers commuting, by all means of transportation,
to jobs in . . . . |
1990 Census |
2000 Census |
Percent Change,
|
| Downtown San Francisco |
284,300 |
320,300 |
+13% |
| Downtown Oakland |
51,900 |
63,200 |
+22% |
| Downtown San Jose |
43,000 |
44,200 |
+3% |
| Downtowns, Combined |
379,200 |
427,700 |
+13% |
| Rest of Bay Area |
2,712,000 |
2,988,400 |
+10% |
| Bay Area, TOTAL |
3,091,200 |
3,416,100 |
+11% |
| Downtowns as Share of Region |
12.3% |
12.5% |
|
C. Transit Commute Shares in the San Francisco Bay Area
| Share of workers commuting,
by transit, to jobs in . . . . |
1990 Census |
2000 Census |
Percent Change,
|
| Downtown San Francisco |
46.6% |
49.0% |
+2.4% |
| Downtown Oakland |
20.2% |
24.1% |
+2.9% |
| Downtown San Jose |
4.7% |
7.2% |
+2.5% |
| Downtowns, Combined |
38.3% |
41.0% |
+2.7% |
| Rest of Bay Area |
5.4% |
4.8% |
-0.6% |
| Bay Area, TOTAL |
9.4% |
9.4% |
+0.0% |
This new census data is from the "Census Transportation Planning Package" (CTPP) currently being analyzed by transportation planners at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in Oakland. The recently released data provides detailed tabulations on the characteristics of workers at their place of work. Previous Census 2000 products only provide information on workers, persons and housing units by place of residence. Future CTPP data to be released by the U.S. Bureau of the Census will include detailed tabulations that show commuter "flows" between home-and-work (e.g., how many workers live in Oakland and work in San Francisco, and how they got to work). Tabulations in the CTPP data are based on decennial census "long form" questionnaires that were answered by one-in-eight Bay Area residents. Detailed information on the Census Transportation Planning Package is available on MTC’s web site at: http://www.mtc.ca.gov/datamart/census/ctpp2000/.
# # #
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