Charted: America's driving capitals
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People in Raleigh, North Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama; and Jacksonville, Florida are doing the most daily driving among those in major U.S. metro areas, a new analysis finds.
Why it matters: There's a wide range among different cities in how much people typically drive each day, with factors from walkability to public transit access playing a role.
Driving the news: Raleigh has the most daily per capita vehicle miles traveled (VMT) among the 50 most-populated U.S. metros, with 38.1.
- It's followed by Birmingham (36.1), Jacksonville (36) and Nashville (35.5).
- San Francisco (21.7), Philadelphia (21.1) and New York City (14.4) came up last — which makes sense, given their relatively well-developed public transit networks, walkability, density, etc.
How it works: The numbers come by way of Replica, a mobility analytics firm that publishes traffic and other similar data based on anonymized mobile device info, roadside sensors, transit agencies and more.
- For this analysis, Replica looked specifically at private car trips made by adults in fall 2023.
Caveat: The figures include not just personally owned vehicles, but also taxis and ride-hailing vehicles.
The intrigue: Some of the cities with the least VMT are also suffering from traffic slowdowns — perhaps one more reason people may opt to take the bus, train or subway instead.
Between the lines: Replica's latest data comes as New York has all but given up on congestion pricing, an ambitious and controversial first-in-the-nation effort to reduce street traffic and fund public transit through a new toll on drivers entering Manhattan's busiest areas.
- Had the plan succeeded, New York's already-low VMT might have fallen even further in the future.
The bottom line: Some cities are car cities — and that doesn't seem likely to change any time soon.
