The Accessibility Observatory at the University of Minnesota has released the most useful transit commute rankings you’re likely to see for some time. “Access Across America: Transit 2014” ranks 46 of the biggest U.S. metros based on how many jobs a resident can access by transit during the morning rush of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Let’s jump right into the top 10 then step back and see how the rankings were done:
New York
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Washington, D.C.
Chicago
Boston
Philadelphia
Seattle
Denver
San Jose
Not a terribly surprising list, but digging deeper it proves to be an incredibly insightful one. The rankings use both city geography and transit schedules to capture the full door-to-door commute experience: from the first mile it takes to reach a bus or train station, to the wait once you’re there, to the travel time itself, to the last mile reaching the office. They are also weighted by time, with shorter trips favored over longer ones. So a 10-minute commute gives a city more accessibility points than a 60-minute commute.