Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Time spent commuting hitting a record high, and people listening
right now that are commuting and listening to my voice
in their car, going yeah, I know I'm doing it
right now, Jim Ryan, ABC News is joining us, and
it seems like more and more. Jim, And I'm sure
you deal with a good lord. You're in Dallas, and
I can't begin to imagine how much time you spend
(00:21):
on the road, because I know it's horrific in the larger, larger,
bigger cities, but this is, this is mind boggling, how
much time we sit in traffic and my little commute
on the way home every night. It's it's literally like
a hodgepodge. I'm like, one night it can take me
thirty minutes to get home. The next night it can
be fifty two minutes to get home. You know, it
(00:42):
just it just varies because of you know, something dumb,
of course, happening along the way.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
But this is pretty eye opening here, well it is.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah, I mean, so if you add up those that
fifty two minute commute and you know, put them all together,
and you come up with a pretty good number. Fifty
eight hours per year, that's the average the drivers in
Columbus are spending stuck in traffic. That's up what nine
hours from just twenty nineteen forty nine hours back then
fifty eight hours now per year. That's a lot, and
(01:12):
that's not too far behind the national average of sixty
three hours. So yeah, don't count out Columbus. You guys
have traffic problems there too.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
What do they attribute this to.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
I'm gonna say it's so many people are working on
the internet. So many people are working on their you know,
they work from home, which means they have more time
to block or jam up the roads or get out
and drive.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
It seems like, well.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, those hybrid schedules, certainly, that's a part of it.
But also you've got return to work orders. So bosses
are telling their employees, Okay, the pandemic so over, you
can come on back into the office. And in fact
they're saying you must come back into the office. And
so those the traditional rush hours are back in full
forest a six in the morning until nine and then
in the afternoon three to what five thirty or six
(01:58):
or so, So that's filled up again. But yeah, with
all those hybrid workers deciding when they want.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
To go into work, the middle of.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
The day is jammed up too, and then the evening,
the afternoon. I mean you've probably got traffic reports overnight too,
and it extends all the way into the weekend. So
it's not just a rush hour problem anymore. It's something
that extends throughout the whole week mark.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
As a matter of fact, I can you know, it
can be Sunday afternoon and I'm going, I'm like, why
is there a traffic jam?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Like what is happening?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
One of the main arteries here in town twenty three
is it's insane And it can literally be, you know,
Sunday evening at six o'clock, we decide to go out
and meet and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's backed up,
Like what is.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Happening here, Sunday drivers? Or your problem?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well, it could be yeah, I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well here's another part of the problem too, you know.
So since the pandemic, people have you know, spent a
lot of time sitting in front of the computers ordering
stuff you groceries and other merchandise, and they have it
to their homes. Truck congestion has climbed nineteen percent since
twenty nineteen. The rest of I mean, the passenger cars
and trucks, they've increased about ten percent. But you've seen
(03:09):
this dramatic rise in truck traffic, and you know you're
gonna see big names on the side of there's Walmarts,
the Amazons, the Targets, and then of course in the
neighborhoods you've got to delivery trucks that are out there.
So yeah, trucks are making up a big part of
that because of the pressure that we're placing on them
by ordering stuff.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
And now I'll tell you what, I feel guilty when
I when I'm griping about, oh my gosh, another truck
another some way, and then I'm like, well, that's what
keeps America moving, you know, that's our economy. That is
that's I feel bad. But yeah, the trucks on the interstate.
If I could waive one, the trucks would have their
own interstate.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Well, yeah, in some places they have their own lanes,
or they're told to stay out of certain lanes. So
at least around here, right stay out of the left lane.
But yeah, so, and different communities have tried to deal
with that problem and with others as well. In Boston,
for example, the traffic planners have started tweaking the traffic
lights right, the ten second street light timing. So you're
(04:06):
coming into town, you're coming off the freeway, you're in
downtown Boston, it's a ten second light regardless. Ten seconds
one direction, ten seconds the perpendicular direction, and that seems
to be helping. In fact, Boston is one of the
few places in the country where the commute time has
gone down in the last five years.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Ah, that's I'm shocked that that ten seconds for each
one helps at all. You would think it would on
the busier of the two that it's due or say,
I don't know, however, many roads you're speaking about, Jim,
you start talking about the ones that are more congested,
Clearly they just continue to get more and more congested
(04:44):
if they are only ten seconds, and then their counterpart
is not very much traffic, and that ten seconds you're
going to get, you know, it seems.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Like maybe more through there, I suppose.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
But yeah, well I think I'm sure there's more than
just that going on there in Boston to bring down
the commute, right, But little things like that, you know,
and encouraging people to use mass transit that helps, you know,
it falls on deaf years in most parts of the country, right,
But these little steps are intended to try to reduce
a the commute time and be the pollution they're wear
and tear on the roads and all the rest of it.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, it seems like it takes forever to get through
the red light that you used to be able to
kind of make it through before. And then on top
of that, now at every red light, people that are
usually leading the charge they're at the red light, are
on their phones during the red light, and then they're
then they're delayed.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I mean, think about that in Boston.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Who's like, well, we got ten seconds to get through,
and you're on your phone for four of them they're shopping.
It's crazy, man, Oh my gosh, this world has meant
And then you start throwing in population.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I would imagine that increasing too.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
You know so well true, and some of this just
flies in the face of reason. I'm still puzzling over
some of this stuff. The numbers, by the way, they
come from the TAXA and M Transportation Institute, and they've
been looking at this for years, studying the day. This
is their urban Mobility report. And here in Texas, surprisingly
Austin which has had notoriously bad traffic for years and years.
(06:09):
It's a commute time actually went down in the last
six years. San Antonio saw it's number dropped just a bit. Houston.
That's a different matter. Seventy seven hours per year spent
in traffic in Houston, oh boy.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
And I would imagine Dallas is right there with Houston, right.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Closed sixty nine, sixty nine, and it's gone up from
sixty five in the last few years. But yeah, Houston's
not my favorite town anyways, right.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I understand.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I understand it's hot both places, though it seems like
all the time, right, not all the time.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I mean Houston, it's different. It is humid. It is humid.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Jim Ryan, ABC News out of Dallas and time spent
commuting hitting record highs. Jim, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Thanks guys, all right, we'll see you
Time spent commuting hitting a record high, and people listening
right now that are commuting and listening to my voice
in their car, going yeah, I know I'm doing it
right now, Jim Ryan, ABC News is joining us, and
it seems like more and more. Jim, And I'm sure
you deal with a good lord. You're in Dallas, and
I can't begin to imagine how much time you spend
(00:21):
on the road, because I know it's horrific in the larger, larger,
bigger cities, but this is, this is mind boggling, how
much time we sit in traffic and my little commute
on the way home every night. It's it's literally like
a hodgepodge. I'm like, one night it can take me
thirty minutes to get home. The next night it can
be fifty two minutes to get home. You know, it
(00:42):
just it just varies because of you know, something dumb,
of course, happening along the way.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
But this is pretty eye opening here, well it is.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah, I mean, so if you add up those that
fifty two minute commute and you know, put them all together,
and you come up with a pretty good number. Fifty
eight hours per year, that's the average the drivers in
Columbus are spending stuck in traffic. That's up what nine
hours from just twenty nineteen forty nine hours back then
fifty eight hours now per year. That's a lot, and
(01:12):
that's not too far behind the national average of sixty
three hours. So yeah, don't count out Columbus. You guys
have traffic problems there too.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
What do they attribute this to.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
I'm gonna say it's so many people are working on
the internet. So many people are working on their you know,
they work from home, which means they have more time
to block or jam up the roads or get out
and drive.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
It seems like, well.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, those hybrid schedules, certainly, that's a part of it.
But also you've got return to work orders. So bosses
are telling their employees, Okay, the pandemic so over, you
can come on back into the office. And in fact
they're saying you must come back into the office. And
so those the traditional rush hours are back in full
forest a six in the morning until nine and then
in the afternoon three to what five thirty or six
(01:58):
or so, So that's filled up again. But yeah, with
all those hybrid workers deciding when they want.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
To go into work, the middle of.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
The day is jammed up too, and then the evening,
the afternoon. I mean you've probably got traffic reports overnight too,
and it extends all the way into the weekend. So
it's not just a rush hour problem anymore. It's something
that extends throughout the whole week mark.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
As a matter of fact, I can you know, it
can be Sunday afternoon and I'm going, I'm like, why
is there a traffic jam?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Like what is happening?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
One of the main arteries here in town twenty three
is it's insane And it can literally be, you know,
Sunday evening at six o'clock, we decide to go out
and meet and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's backed up,
Like what is.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Happening here, Sunday drivers? Or your problem?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well, it could be yeah, I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well here's another part of the problem too, you know.
So since the pandemic, people have you know, spent a
lot of time sitting in front of the computers ordering
stuff you groceries and other merchandise, and they have it
to their homes. Truck congestion has climbed nineteen percent since
twenty nineteen. The rest of I mean, the passenger cars
and trucks, they've increased about ten percent. But you've seen
(03:09):
this dramatic rise in truck traffic, and you know you're
gonna see big names on the side of there's Walmarts,
the Amazons, the Targets, and then of course in the
neighborhoods you've got to delivery trucks that are out there.
So yeah, trucks are making up a big part of
that because of the pressure that we're placing on them
by ordering stuff.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
And now I'll tell you what, I feel guilty when
I when I'm griping about, oh my gosh, another truck
another some way, and then I'm like, well, that's what
keeps America moving, you know, that's our economy. That is
that's I feel bad. But yeah, the trucks on the interstate.
If I could waive one, the trucks would have their
own interstate.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Well, yeah, in some places they have their own lanes,
or they're told to stay out of certain lanes. So
at least around here, right stay out of the left lane.
But yeah, so, and different communities have tried to deal
with that problem and with others as well. In Boston,
for example, the traffic planners have started tweaking the traffic
lights right, the ten second street light timing. So you're
(04:06):
coming into town, you're coming off the freeway, you're in
downtown Boston, it's a ten second light regardless. Ten seconds
one direction, ten seconds the perpendicular direction, and that seems
to be helping. In fact, Boston is one of the
few places in the country where the commute time has
gone down in the last five years.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Ah, that's I'm shocked that that ten seconds for each
one helps at all. You would think it would on
the busier of the two that it's due or say,
I don't know, however, many roads you're speaking about, Jim,
you start talking about the ones that are more congested,
Clearly they just continue to get more and more congested
(04:44):
if they are only ten seconds, and then their counterpart
is not very much traffic, and that ten seconds you're
going to get, you know, it seems.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Like maybe more through there, I suppose.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
But yeah, well I think I'm sure there's more than
just that going on there in Boston to bring down
the commute, right, But little things like that, you know,
and encouraging people to use mass transit that helps, you know,
it falls on deaf years in most parts of the country, right,
But these little steps are intended to try to reduce
a the commute time and be the pollution they're wear
and tear on the roads and all the rest of it.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, it seems like it takes forever to get through
the red light that you used to be able to
kind of make it through before. And then on top
of that, now at every red light, people that are
usually leading the charge they're at the red light, are
on their phones during the red light, and then they're
then they're delayed.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I mean, think about that in Boston.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Who's like, well, we got ten seconds to get through,
and you're on your phone for four of them they're shopping.
It's crazy, man, Oh my gosh, this world has meant
And then you start throwing in population.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I would imagine that increasing too.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
You know so well true, and some of this just
flies in the face of reason. I'm still puzzling over
some of this stuff. The numbers, by the way, they
come from the TAXA and M Transportation Institute, and they've
been looking at this for years, studying the day. This
is their urban Mobility report. And here in Texas, surprisingly
Austin which has had notoriously bad traffic for years and years.
(06:09):
It's a commute time actually went down in the last
six years. San Antonio saw it's number dropped just a bit. Houston.
That's a different matter. Seventy seven hours per year spent
in traffic in Houston, oh boy.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
And I would imagine Dallas is right there with Houston, right.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Closed sixty nine, sixty nine, and it's gone up from
sixty five in the last few years. But yeah, Houston's
not my favorite town anyways, right.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I understand.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I understand it's hot both places, though it seems like
all the time, right, not all the time.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I mean Houston, it's different. It is humid. It is humid.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Jim Ryan, ABC News out of Dallas and time spent
commuting hitting record highs. Jim, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Thanks guys, all right, we'll see you
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