National survey shows Calif. not so car-crazy after all

Turns out California is not quite the car-crazy, motoring Mecca it's made it out to be -- at least compared to other states.New census data offer an image-busting glimpse of Golden State commuting: A smaller percentage of workers drove alone last year than in almost any other state.That's not saying much, however. Nationally, 76 percent of commuters drive alone each day to work.On solo car commutes, California's 73 percent ranks it a surprisingly low 43rd among the states, tied with the famously eco-aware Oregon, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.New data back what some experts have argued for years: Californians use their cars a lot, but are no more freewheeling than people in other states."One more mention of California's love affair with the car and we're goners," lamented Charles Lave of the University of California Transportation Center more than a year ago. "If we wanted to fondle cars, we'd be somewhere in Alabama."(Alabama is tied with Tennessee as the nation's true solo-car-commute capitals, census data show, followed by Indiana and Michigan.)California also is gaining a reputation for its high-profile attempts to put the brakes on long commutes, gas consumption and vehicle emissions.That includes a 2006 Assembly bill, designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide from vehicles, blamed for global warming.And, on Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed another measure that guides metropolitan areas to cut sprawl and reduce emissions by growing more densely in existing urban areas and near public transit lines.The legislation was inspired by the Sacramento region's recent Blueprint to reduce car commutes with more urban-style housing and more transit."It's about ensuring that people don't have to spend more time in their cars," Steinberg said.Californians also are cutting back on their own.Pinched by high fuel prices and a slow economy, California drivers bought nearly 5 percent less gas this June than in June 2007. It was the ninth consecutive month of reduced gas purchases.Nationally, motorists are driving about 4 percent less this summer than last summer, national transportation officials said Tuesday. That is also part of a nine-month trend.Despite gains, a review of census data show California and the rest of the nation remain a long way from leaving their cars in the garage.Californians now spend on average 27.3 minutes each morning on a commute. That includes transit riding and is among the longest in the country. Still, it's less than the 27.7-minute average commute in 2000.In most cases, commuters' choices on how to get to work remain limited, transportation analysts say."We are not so exceptional," University of California, Berkeley transportation analyst Elizabeth Deakin said of California. "People are very rational and very practical. They choose based on travel time and travel cost."In a congested urban area, like Los Angeles, the Bay Area or central Sacramento, people will choose transit if it works better than a car, she said.E-mail Tony Bizjak at tbizjak(at)sacbee.com.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)