Philadelphia and Houston followed the Bay Area as the most predictable. Of the 10 regions in the study, Washington, D.C., had by far the least predictable commute times, followed by New York City and Los Angeles. Either way, you’ll know exactly when you have to leave your house to get to work each day on time.
If it’s a breeze on Monday and Tuesday, you’ll typically have no problem Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It’s what transportation experts call a “reliable commute.” If your commute stinks today, it likely will stink tomorrow. “Yes, we have plenty of congestion,” said John Goodwin of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, “but it’s congestion we can count on.” In the pre-dawn darkness, traffic is already at a crawl on Interstate 580 through Livermore, on Highway 101 approaching Mountain View and before the toll plaza on the Bay Bridge, where a single fender bender can mean long delays for thousands of drivers.īay Area commuting can be torture, at levels not felt in more than a decade.īut a new study suggests that the region’s road warriors have one advantage over the rest of the country: Freeway commute times here are more predictable than in any other major U.S.
