My Two Cents: With Commuting, It Helps To Live In Bethesda

Illustration by  by Alison Hawkins Williamson

My Two Cents is a weekly opinion column from Bethesda resident Joseph Hawkins. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BethesdaNow.com.

Back on Sept. 18, BethesdaNow reported on new U.S. Census Bureau figures for Montgomery County. And being a lover of all things data, I found myself drawn to the Census American Community Survey’s website – a true treasure trove of facts and figures.

Given what I had written last week about pedestrian safety in the White Flint area, I found myself drawn to the commuting characteristics for Bethesdians. Yes, you can go the survey’s website and with its various search functions focus solely on Bethesda or build rather cool tables comparing Bethesda to other Montgomery County places (or cities, counties, and states elsewhere in the U.S.).

Most Bethesdians have a relatively modest commuting time to work. The average commuting time for commuters in the area defined as the Bethesda CDP (Census Designated Place) was 28.9 minutes compared to 34.7 minutes for all Montgomery County workers. For nearly four in 10 Bethesda CDP residents, the daily job commute is less than 24 minutes. My own commute is roughly 13 minutes from home to office. (That’s because I’m lucky enough to drive against the daily rush hour patterns).

But the real eye-opener for me was how many Bethesdians don’t even leave home for work. One in 10 (10.4 percent) works at home. (All percentages based on workers 16 years and over.)

After the jump are the work at home, walk to work, and bike to work rates for Bethesda CDP residents compared to other selected Montgomery County CDPs and municipalities. Chevy Chase is the winner for residents walking (7.5 percent) and biking to work (2.4 percent). Bethesda comes in second place for residents walking (6.1 percent) and biking to work (2.0 percent).

Works at home (%) Walks to work (%) Bikes to work (%)
Montgomery County 5.6 2.3 0.5
Bethesda CDP 10.4 6.1 2.0
Chevy Chase CDP CDP 7.2 7.5 2.4
Clarksburg CDP 5.1 0.1 0.0
Gaithersburg City 3.8 2.2 0.5
Germantown CDP 2.7 1.2 0.0
North Bethesda CDP 6.0 2.5 0.4
Rockville City 6.0 2.4 0.5
Silver Spring CDP 4.4 4.3 0.3
Takoma Park City 6.7 4.5 1.6

It’s impossible to explore all the facts and figures in one sitting, but I have to admit that many of the commuting numbers and rates I’ve explored so far suggest that folks in Bethesda and Chevy Chase lean green — we seem ready to do our share to save the planet.

Illustration via Alison Hawkins Williamson

Joseph Hawkins is a longtime Bethesda resident who remembers when there was no Capital Crescent Trail. He works full-time for an employee-owned social science research firm located Montgomery County. He is a D.C. native and for nearly 10 years, he wrote a regular column for the Montgomery Journal. He also has essays and editorials published in Education Week, the Washington Post, and Teaching Tolerance Magazine. He is a serious live music fan and is committed to checking out some live act at least once a month.

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