60%

WHERE DO WE STAND?

Over half (60%) of Travis County workers drove a car alone to work in 2023. Travis County has a lower percent of commuters who drive alone to work than surrounding counties or Texas.

The Housing + Transportation Index estimates that people in Travis County pay an estimated $14,976 a year in gas and auto ownership costs, and that rate increases the further someone lives from Central Austin. According to Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Fact Sheet for Travis County, housing is estimated to be 27% of household costs and transportation is estimated to be 15% of household costs.

A City Lab analysis done for Vancouver found that for every $1 a person spends on driving a car, society pays another $9.20 of costs in road construction and maintenance, pollution, car crashes, and congestion.

* The US Census Bureau did not release 2020 ACS 1-Year Data. Without the  data from the USCB, commuting mode rates were not possible to determine. The graph depicts the median between the 2019 and 2021 rates

A CLOSER LOOK

Approximately 4.3% of Travis County residents with incomes below 150% of the Federal Poverty Level rely on public transportation to get to work, a rate that is three times higher than it is for residents with higher incomes (1.4%).  Travis County residents with lower incomes also carpool at a higher rate. However, driving alone to work remains the predominant mode of transportation for workers in both of these income categories.

FINDING ALTERNATIVES

The most recent American Community Survey 1-Year data suggests that the number of people working from home in Travis County in 2022 and 2023 decreased, while the number of people who drive alone to work increased over the same time period.

CITY COMPARISON

The most recent American Community Survey 5-Year data show that there was a significant increase in the number of people working from home in Austin in recent years.

Cities with much lower “drive alone” rates rely on public transit and other alternatives such as biking, walking and carpools. In San Francisco, more people use other modes to commute than driving alone to work. San Francisco also has the highest rate of public transportation use.

UNDERAGE IMPAIRED CRASH DATA

The information below is regarding crashes involving impaired drivers below the age of 21 in Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties. An “impaired driver” is defined as a driver who has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) greater than 0.00g/dL, or who had a positive alcohol test, or had a positive alcohol test, or had a contributing factor flagged as had been drinking, taking medication, under the influence – alcohol, or under the influence – drugs.

In terms of age, the majority of crashes involving impaired drivers under the age of 21 involved driver aged 18, 19, 0r 20.

From 2016 to 2018, impaired drivers under the age of 21 who crashed were male in the majority of cases reported.

From 2016 to 2018, crashes involving impaired drivers under the age of 21 happened with most frequency between the hours of 8:00 pm and 4:00 am. In Travis County, 66% of crashes involving impaired drivers under the age of 21 occurred during these hours in the time period analyzed.