Team Discussion: Testing Hypotheses About Commuting

Discussion Scenario
How do Americans commute to work? A National Public Transportation survey taken a few
years ago indicated that almost 80% of U.S. commuters drive alone to work, more than 11%
carpool, and approximately 5% use public transportation. Using hypothesis testing methodology
presented in this chapter, researchers can test whether these proportions still hold true today as
well as how these figures vary by region. For example, in New York City it is almost certain that
the proportion of commuters using public transportation is much higher than 5%. In rural parts of
the country where public transportation is unavailable, the proportion of commuters using public
transportation would be zero.
What is the average travel time of a commute to work in the United States? According to the
National Public Transportation Survey, travel time varies according to the type of transportation
used. For example, the average travel time of a commute using a private vehicle is 20 minutes as
compared to 42 minutes using public transportation. In part, this difference can be accounted for
by the travel speed in miles per hour: private vehicles average 35 miles per hour over a commute
compared to 19 miles per hour averaged by public transportation vehicles. It is possible to test
any of these means using hypothesis testing techniques presented in this chapter to either validate
the figures or to determine whether the figures are no longer true.
Discussion Questions
After reading the short scenario and in order to prepare for this unit's MSFLive Classroom,
review and be ready to answer the following questions with your team:
1. According to the statistics presented here, 80% of U.S. commuters drive alone to work. Why
is this so? What are some reasons why Americans drive to work alone? Is it a good thing that
Americans drive to work alone? What are some reasons why Americans might not want to
drive to work alone?
2. The mean commute time for a private vehicle in the United States is about 20 minutes. Can
you think of some reasons why Americans might want to reduce this figure? What are some
ways that this figure might be reduced?
Grading: Please see Syllabus.
Due dates: Participate in this discussion before attending the MSFLive Classroom, which will be
offered Wednesday 8:00-9:30 PM EST Time and Thursday 6:00-7:30 PM EST Time.




Commuting
by Miranda Bacha - Sunday, August 24, 2014, 6:36 PM

Hi everyone,
I'll start off the discussion.
1)In rural areas, workplaces may be more spread out, therefore it would probably not be convenient
for people to carpool. In large cities, cost of owning a vehicle is much higher because of parking
fees, parking is limited, gas prices, and general work locations may be closer together therefore, it is
more convenient to carpool.
2) time value of money. People do not want to spend a lot of time driving when they could be
making money or spending time with their families.


Reply

Re: Commuting
by Michael Noumbissi - Tuesday, August 26, 2014, 12:00 AM

Miranda, thank you for getting the discussion started.
1. I believe one of the main reasons for this high percentage of commuters driving to work alone is
the country's love affair with cars. I do not know the exact statistics but there is a strong desire for
Americans to have their own car and since they are easily accessible, it is even common to find
teenagers possess their private vehicles. Because of these factors, there are a relatively few people
who are depended on others to go to work, thus less carpooling.
It may not always be a good thing to drive alone. One of the reasons why driving to work alone could
be bad is that incompetent drivers might be scared, anxious or nervous when driving by themselves.
Therefore the presence of someone else could be reassuring and make the ride/experience less
stressful.
2. The longer the commute time, the higher the chance of traffic. Therefore I believe it would be
beneficial for everyone if the mean commute time is reduced. The best way this figure can be
decreased is by having commuters use other ways of transportation especially in cities with a
developed public transportation system.


Show parent | Reply

Re: Commuting
by David Hou - Tuesday, August 26, 2014, 2:40 AM

Thanks so much for getting things started, Miranda and Michael! When reading the scenario for this
discussion, I think what stood out to me was the statistic of almost 80% of American commuters
drive alone to work. I found that to be kind of high, but I'll digress further in my responses to the
questions.
Question 1: Speaking only from experience living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I find the stat of
~80% of American commuters to be way too high to be true. I think if I were to do a rough guess, I
think on a daily basis that less than 50% of the daily commuters in SF are drivers and less than 20%
are driving alone. The costs of driving alone are just too high on a daily basis and wouldn't make
much sense outside of those who have the financial means to pay prohibitively high driving costs in
the Bay Area (gas, toll, parking). The convenience of public transportation and the savings given to
carpoolers make it almost a no-brainer to pursue commuting options besides driving by yourself. I
find it incredibly hard to believe that people in cities/metropolitan areas would be driving to work by
themselves- it just doesn't make much financial sense and I think the system is intentionally set up to
discourage single-person commuters to prevent traffic, congestion and pollution. Granted, I've never
lived in a more "rural" environment, so I don't know if any of this would apply to a rural setting and
what Miranda wrote makes sense to me in explaining why people drive by themselves in more rural
environments.
Without knowing the breakdown of American commuters between rural and more urban settings, it
seems to me that the survey is skewed more towards rural commuters and puts more weight in the
number of rural drives relative to urban drivers. I know I am assuming a lot of the public
transportation infrastructure for a lot of the rest of the country, but I would think that most have a
decent public transportation system and/or a system set up to encourage more ride-sharing and less
cars on the road, so that there is less traffic, congestion and environment concerns. If we were to
accept the stats from this survey as true though, I would be of the impression that part of the reason
for so many single-driver cars has to with what Michael suggested and our country's love affair with
cars and driving. I also think that the convenience factor of being able to drive yourself everywhere
rather than relying on public transportation and/or carpooling. I think there probably would be some
interesting findings if a survey were to be done on commuter psyche and how people would prefer to
commute if all things were equal. Driving alone to work would probably be at the top of the list. I don't
know if doing so is a good idea for the environment (even with hybrids), but in terms of personal
opinion, I think driving to work is good if I need to be at work sooner, but not so good if I'm
concerned about the financial costs of commuting.


Show parent | Reply

Re: Commuting
by David Hou - Tuesday, August 26, 2014, 3:17 AM

Question 2: In terms of the mean commute time, I think commuters would be interested in reducing
that even lower than 20 minutes because the general consensus seems to be that time spent
commuting is not an efficient use of time, Therefore less time spent commuting means greater
efficiency and less time wasted in any given day. I think this follows what Miranda pointed out with
the time value of money and how people would rather be doing several other things, besides driving,
which provide a better "return" for one's time.
There are a lot of people that do manage to make use of longer commute times to do work or be
productive via other means, but I think people would probably prefer to do the same activity while at
home or work vs in a car/public transportation. The tradeoff with private car transportation of course
is that if you're driving, you probably get less work done vs sitting on a train on the way to work. I
also agree with Michael's point that a longer commute time lends itself to a higher chance of traffic
and wasting more time on one's commute. If you have a shorter commute, chances are there are a
lot less factors involved that could cause you to spend a longer time on your commute.
I think one of the ways this commute time could be reduced would be simply by having more people
"telecommute" or work from home. If the infrastructure (network access, hardware, software, etc) is
in place to allow people to work from home, then that eliminates commute time for some people to
zero and would definitely reduce the mean time of 20 minutes to something lower. Also, for those
people that cannot telecommute and would still have to physically commute to work, their commutes
should be quicker as well, since less people will be driving and/or using other means of
transportation to get to work.


Show parent | Reply

Re: Commuting
by Andrew Ghanem - Tuesday, August 26, 2014, 1:55 PM

Question 2 seems to be straight forward to me.. there are a lot better and more enjoyable things I
can do with my time than drive on the road. In terms of how the 20 minute average can be reduced,
anything that positively impacts the distance and speed variables will help reduce the average time
of the commute. Some of the more traditional answers some of you have provided would definitely
apply. I agree with Michaels idea to have commuters use other ways of transportation especially in
cities with a developed public transportation system. The telecommute or working from home is a
more nontraditional approach, but I can see how it can be effective. Other nontraditional approaches
that come to mind would be to remove speed limits and traffic lights, cut funding for highway patrol,
make faster cars more affordable, make the flying vehicle a more economical solution, extend
unemployment benefits to keep more people at home, etc a little out of the box, but they directly or
indirectly impact the right variables that reduce distance and speed.


Show parent | Reply

Re: Commuting
by Andrew Ghanem - Tuesday, August 26, 2014, 1:40 PM

In response to question 1.. I think this is a few part answer, but I don't want to repeat what some of
you have already said. I do agree with Miranda's points regarding rural areas vs larger cities. To add
to that point, one could argue that the US in general is very spread out and anyone not living in one
of the major cities must own a vehicle. If any of you have spent time abroad, it's easy to notice how
much spaces are tighter in majority of countries around the world. The US, after all, is one of the top
5 biggest countries world.
The other point i'd make is that our culture in US promotes being individualistic and materialistic. In
combination with the space created by the size of the US, the me first I have to own stuff society we
live in exacerbates the need for a vehicle, among other things.