Houston-area residents drive more than 30 miles per day
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Houston-area drivers average 30.4 miles behind the wheel each day, a new analysis finds.
Why it matters: With the closure of Houston BCycle, the cancellation of Metro's bus rapid transit system, and the scaling back of multimodal priorities under Mayor John Whitmire, Houston's car centricity doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon.
Zoom out: Drivers in the San Antonio metro traveled 31.5 miles on average.
- Those in the Dallas-Fort Worth area traveled 30.1 miles, and Austin drivers traveled 29.3 miles.
The big picture: Among cities, there's a wide range in how much people typically drive each day, with factors from walkability to public transit access playing a role.
Context: Houston has a walk score of 47 (with 100 being the most walkable and 0 being the least), which falls into the Walk Score category of "most errands require a car," and a bike score of 49, according to an analysis of the city's walkability, bikeability and transit options.
- New York City, meanwhile, has a walk score of 88 and a bike score of 69.
- Walk scores are based on distance to amenities as well as road metrics such as block length and intersection density.
Driving the news: Raleigh, North Carolina, is No. 1 for miles driven per day, at 38.1 miles per driver.
- It's followed by Birmingham, Alabama (36.1), and Jacksonville, Florida (36).
- San Francisco (21.7), Philadelphia (21.1) and New York City (14.4) were at the bottom of the list.
How it works: The numbers come by way of Replica, a mobility-analytics firm that publishes traffic and similar data based on anonymized mobile device information, 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.