Most Fort Collins commuters drive rather than bike

In Fort Collins, there's a lot of traffic, cyclists and public transportation options. But there's actually far less diversity among commuters here than there appears.

According to the 2015 Nielsen Answers Profile index, most commuters in Fort Collins drive Toyota cars, have a 20- to 30-minute commute and drive alone.

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The data is divided up into groups: long-term residents (15-plus years); those who moved here between six and 14 years ago; short-term residents (five years); and those who moved here within the last year.

In 2014, Fort Collins had a population of 155,400, according to city numbers. That's a nearly 11,000 jump since 2010, and a 32,000 increase since 2000.

Toyota is the most popular car among the four groups, with more than 7.5 percent of each driving a car from the Japanese brand. Ford SUVs/vans/trucks are the second most and Toyota SUVs/vans/trucks are the third-most popular among every group.

And vehicles are the way almost everyone gets to work. More than 80 percent of long-term residents drive alone, as well 79 percent of the rest of the groups. Only 9 percent carpool and less than 3 percent utilizes public transportation. The group who uses public transit the most are those who moved here within the year, at 2.82 percent.

They're also the biggest group of commuter cyclists — at 0.8 percent. Only 0.5 percent of long-term residents ride their bike to get around.

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More than 37 percent of each group faces a 20- to 30-minute commute. According to the 2010 North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization, the average commute on the Front Range is 7.14 miles. The study says the average time for a trip of any purpose is 5.58 miles.

If there were more diversity in how Fort Collins commutes, that would reduce vehicle traffic and congestion, said Paul Sizemore, FC Moves program coordinator. The city's Master Street Plan addresses this issue and calls for alternative modes of travel. Sizemore said this is consistent with realizing that widening roads will increase mobility by only a limited amount.

One way the city has been approaching this is through enhanced travel corridors, which are high-volume routes throughout Fort Collins where Sizemore said the city can "invest in multimodal projects and get the best value for city dollars."

An example is the Mason and College corridor, where the MAX and Mason Trail provide options to travel north and south throughout the city.

Sizemore thinks only one mode of travel is faster than another in various situations, but pointed to a study the Coloradoan conducted when the MAX first opened in May 2014. Although unscientific, the study — which pitted a runner, cyclist, driver and the MAX against each other from the South Transit Center to Old Town — found the bike was fastest with a time of 23 minutes, 30 seconds. The car took 24 minutes and the MAX was 23 minutes, 50 seconds.

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Sizemore said he points to the study because he said it shows "there are multiple modes of travel that are all totally viable and reasonable means of traveling the corridor."

"Each will get you to your destination within a couple of minutes of the others," he said.

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