Commuting

[allbusiness]

I just came across an interesting statistic on the Michigan.org web site.

While only 9% of Kent County workers work outside of the county, 37.6% of Ottawa County workers work outside the county and 25.1% of Muskegon County workers work outside the county. Maybe this shouldn't surprise me due to the concentration of finance, medical and other industry in Grand Rapids, but the 37% figure for Ottawa county frankly astounds me. That got me thinking....

That means 50,000 people (132,097 employed x 37.6% = 49,668) get in their cars and leave Ottawa county every morning to go to work outside their own county (I'm one of them) -- probably with an average 30 mile commute (typical Holland to GR drive, like mine). 22,000 leave Muskegon County. 28,000 leave Kent County. 26,000 leave Allegan County. Every day...

Just between the four counties, that's 126,000 people who commute to another county every day -- 260 work-days a year, averaging maybe 60 miles roundtrip per day. That's 1.96 billion miles a year -- counting only those who travel outside their own county, and not those who stay within their county borders.

Is that right? Check my math out. Imagine how much that costs in gas, highway wear, tires, and general maintenance, not to mention the 260 man/hours spent behind the wheel at whatever per hour!

[Larry Spataro]

I just came across an interesting statistic on the Michigan.org web site.

While only 9% of Kent County workers work outside of the county, 37.6% of Ottawa County workers work outside the county and 25.1% of Muskegon County workers work outside the county. Maybe this shouldn't surprise me due to the concentration of finance, medical and other industry in Grand Rapids, but the 37% figure for Ottawa county frankly astounds me. That got me thinking....

That means 50,000 people (132,097 employed x 37.6% = 49,668) get in their cars and leave Ottawa county every morning to go to work outside their own county (I'm one of them) -- probably with an average 30 mile commute (typical Holland to GR drive, like mine). 22,000 leave Muskegon County. 28,000 leave Kent County. 26,000 leave Allegan County. Every day...

Just between the four counties, that's 126,000 people who commute to another county every day -- 260 work-days a year, averaging maybe 60 miles roundtrip per day. That's 1.96 billion miles a year -- counting only those who travel outside their own county, and not those who stay within their county borders.

Is that right? Check my math out. Imagine how much that costs in gas, highway wear, tires, and general maintenance, not to mention the 260 man/hours spent behind the wheel at whatever per hour!

[Rizzo]

allbiz, that is quite a perspective! You should mention this in the GR Forum.

I'm actually pretty surprised at the Muskegon and Ottawa percentages. I'd like to know the numbers from the other Metro counties.

For transit purposes I'd like to see how many are commuting to Downtown or other nearside neighborhoods. The more concentrated these workers the more beneficial a transit system would be. It's quite interesting.

[Raildudes dad]

allbiz, that is quite a perspective! You should mention this in the GR Forum.

I'm actually pretty surprised at the Muskegon and Ottawa percentages. I'd like to know the numbers from the other Metro counties.

For transit purposes I'd like to see how many are commuting to Downtown or other nearside neighborhoods. The more concentrated these workers the more beneficial a transit system would be. It's quite interesting.

[towermart]

I don't know if or how they might have taken this into account, but I can live in the City of Holland and work in the City of Holland but live in Ottawa county and work in Allegan County which is where all of the south side Industrial park is.

I have no idea how big a number that is.

I suspect the Jension area and the City of Holland being in 2 counties skew the Ottawa numbers. Likewise Grand Haven / Spring Lake / Ferrysburg being in close proximity to the Muskegon metro area skews those numbers. I'd like to see the downtown to downtown numbers because suspect those numbers are much lower.

[allbusiness]

I don't know if or how they might have taken this into account, but I can live in the City of Holland and work in the City of Holland but live in Ottawa county and work in Allegan County which is where all of the south side Industrial park is.

I have no idea how big a number that is.