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NewsCut
Bob Collins

The joy of the short commute

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Radio still rides shotgun, the radio audience measuring group Arbitron points out in a news release today on the commuting times of people around the country.

That's good news for radio employees everywhere, given that radio -- superior as it is -- is no longer the favorite medium in the home. But in cars, we've got you.

But not for long, the Minnesota numbers point out.

In fact, one Minnesota/North Dakota radio market -- Grand Forks, East Grand Forks -- the commute time is only 14 minutes. That puts the market at #275 of the 275 radio markets in the United States.

This is all based on this week's release of the American Community Survey, which tells us more about our daily lives than we need to know.

But, for the record, the average commuting time in Minneapolis-Saint Paul is now about 24 minutes. Curiously, that's only increased a little over three minutes in the last 23 years.

Compare that to this claim from a transportation institute in Texas, which I wrote about last month. The study says Twin Cities commuters "waste" an average of 34 hours a year commuting. Broken down, it actually showed the average commute of about 25 minutes.

Although the latter survey had an air of calamity about it, the fact it jibes with the census data reveals that we've got it pretty good and things haven't gotten nearly as bad as we often think they are on the roadways. Especially since we've got company on the trip.

As for you, Duluth-Superior, your one-way commute is about 20 minutes now. That's a 13-percent longer commute than in 1990, almost the same as the Twin Cities. Both trail the increased congestion of Mankato-St. Peter-New Ulm, which has jumped 20 percent since 1990.