Top Cities for Commuter Pain

With gas approaching $4 a gallon, now is not a good time to be a commuter. Perhaps out of sympathy, perhaps out of curiosity, IBM conducted a Commuter Pain Survey evaluating the dwindling patience of American road warriors.

According to results from 4,000 drivers in 10 major cities, we need only wait for a 50 cent rise in gas prices to see commuters abandon highways: 46% said $4.50 gas was their breaking point for finding an alternative way to work, while only 25% said $4 was a problem.

Also, 27% said that at some point they had turned around and gone home rather than face more traffic, and 19% said their commute had severely affected their performance at work or school.

The usual suspects top the list of cities with the worst commute, with the sprawling, senseless exurbs of Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami taking top honors. Read after the jump for IBM's complete list of worst commuter cities, then let us know where you're from and if you can add to or dispute the list.

Comments

"With gas approaching $4 a gallon, now is not a good time to be a commuter."

Surely you mean a CAR commuter? I commute every day. I just do it by bike. It's a great time for me to be a commuter, as I can cruise by the traffic sitting at a standstill knowing i'm faster AND spending less money than the lard-arses sat in their cars at the lights!

Most people are too lazy to bike to work (me being one). So this study was for the 99% of us who drive to work. But to be honest, I really didn't find the study helpful at all.

uhm.. any place in central to eastern nj. traffic is slow everyway, and highway construction is rampant..

Believe me, i know bike commuting is not going to be the choice of the majority, and I'd never preach to anyone about it. It's more me being smug that cycling IS a good choice for me, and as such I can reap the benefits (until some dolt doors me one day)...

I really wonder what the "alternatives" people are going to take when gas hits $4.50? Maybe biking to work will be the new fad because I kinda doubt public transportation is gonna be the alt for most. I probably would rather catch a bus than bike to work, but I'm not gonna make any changes until gas hits $5. Luckily in NJ we have a super low gas tax, and you can still get gas for only $3.76.

I suspect most people will drive until gas hits $7-$8 per gallon.

There is lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth right now due to the sudden increase in costs, and i have no doubt many people are struggling. However, I also suspect that most people will find ways of changing their behaviour without ditching their cars completely.

In the UK, the average salary is almost exactly the same as the average salary in the USA, but gas is over twice as costly, as is food, and other everyday costsings. Yet people still drive their cars to work.

Yes, people drive smaller cars, but its really not unusual to have a 20 mile commute there either.

What will happen over time is that people here will move to smaller cars and perhaps drive them a little less. The average yearly mileage may drop to the 12000 it is in Europe. But people will still drive and people will manage.

There will be some short term pain and some people (the poorest) will no doubt lose out big time. Driving will simply become more of a luxury. 16 yr olds will no longer get a brand new car on their birthdays, big familys will squeeze into smaller cars but life wil go on.

Then you'll get to $8 a gallon and the world will collapse...

I still have my fingers crossed that gas will never be 8 bucks a gallon. Maybe the government will make huge subsidies or something to keep gas in the $5 range. Doesn't China put subsidies on fuel to keep prices down? Why can't we do that rather than another lame stimulus package? I wasn't even eligible for the last stimulus package!

I'm so sick of people saying "ohh in Europe we pay $8" shut up already. You guys would have to shoot up to $15 a gallon to understand how quick and dramatic this price hike has been. (Although you guys may see those prices soon.)

I wonder how high gas prices will get before people decide to STOP WORKING? After all, with universal healthcare, extended unempoyment bennies, more foodstamps and all the other hand outs the pols are promising in an election year, it MAY be a better choice to just stay home and collect public assistance for four years untill we can get a better crop of candidates.

Besides, I drive a truck, my OFFICE is traffic.

It's not quite the same. I understand that the changes have been traumatic, but the fact remains that a vast majority of people living here (i live in chicago) could afford to pay higher gas prices. DOesn't stop the increases being painful, i agree, but i'm saying it's not going to price people out of driving altogether, just maybe will affect what cars they buy in future.

My only comparison to Europe is that I'm trying to highlight that people (at least in the UK, where I'm originally from) aren't making loads more money than the people here in the USA. In fact, people here generally have a much higher quality of life and more disposable income due to most things being much cheaper. I was using it as an example of people managing to get by with higher costs on a similar wage without giving up on cars and being reliant on public transport.

My parents have a Merc SLK and the european equivilent of a Malibu and they drive pretty much anywhere and everywhere. No, they cannot afford a 3.0 engine, but they also have not been priced out of the market for a car either.

That's my point. Price increases = pain. High prices do not = no cars.