Growing numbers of poor, longer commute times and better public transit may be cutting into L.A.'s love affair with the car.
New census data released Tuesday show that Los Angeles has fewer cars per household than other big cities in California. And the percentage of Los Angeles commuters who rely on mass transit is double the state average, according to Census 2000.
Among the state's big cities, L.A. ranks sixth in mass transit use, behind such transit-reliant cities as San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland.
Although the number of commuters is up, there was almost no change in the proportion of people statewide who use mass transit (5%) or carpools (15%). California has spent at least $12 billion on mass transit and adding 800 miles of carpool lanes between 1990 and 2000. That is in addition to local and federal mass transit spending.
A lion's share of the state transportation money was spent in Southern California, on the 59-mile Metro Rail system in Los Angeles County and the 416-mile commuter rail network that stretches from Ventura County to San Diego County. Together, the two systems cost nearly $8 billion.
Despite new commuting options, about 72% of Californians still drive to work alone; the average commute time has increased about three minutes since 1990, to 28 minutes one way.
In Orange County, about 76% of commuters drive alone, spending 27 minutes on average to get to work, about two minutes more than in 1990.
Over the last decade, Orange County has spent much of its transportation money on expanding a freeway system that is increasingly filled with workers from the Inland Empire, said George T. Urch, spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority. He said construction delays and new commuters from Riverside and San Bernardino counties help explain why Orange County commuters are spending so much time on the road.
"We've expanded virtually every freeway," he said.
Urch said he expects local mass transit use to increase in the next few years as his agency considers adding rapid bus lines and new commuter rail extensions. "We are trying hard to come up with alternative transportation growth," he said, "not just freeways."
Transportation experts said Californians continue to rely on cars to get to work partly because of relatively low gas prices and a good economy. But transit officials predict that mass transit use will grow as freeways become more crowded and demographic changes bring more low-income transit riders into the work force.
