Work Force Spends More Time on the Road : Census: Transit officials expect trend to be reversed as mass transit and new regulations come in to play.

San Diego County workers in 1990 were more likely to hop into their cars for a lone--and more time-consuming--drive to the office than 10 years earlier, despite government programs to nudge commuters into car-pools and public transportation, newly-released U.S. Census figures show.

The number of commuters who drove solo increased from 64% in 1980 to 71% by the 1990 census, a trend local transportation officials believe was caused by county growth in remote areas and more women entering the work force.

But the officials predict a sharp drop in that style of commuting during the ‘90s as more mass transit becomes available and government regulations push major employers to encourage employee car-pooling or face penalties.

Still, the census results brought disappointment to some transportation planners who have tried advertisements, car-pool lanes and commuter computers in an attempt to persuade the public that mass transit and car-pooling are vital to reduce smog and lessen congestion.

“Wow, that’s startling statistics,” said local Caltrans’ spokesman Kyle Nelson. “That’s discouraging news.”

While not everybody agrees the figures are that bad, there is common belief that county growth patterns in the ‘80s pulled many people miles away from the transportation system, prompting more commuters to drive alone between home and work.

The population boom, especially in North County, was dramatic in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but the last decade brought growth well beyond what some planners had expected.

From 1980 to 1990, the county population zoomed from 1.86 million to 2.5 million, a sobering 34% increase. In North County, the population increased by 66%.

“San Diego County has been developed in a sprawling manner and the emphasis has been on suburbs,” said Betty Laurs, manager of marketing for the North County Transit District, which operates a fleet of buses.

Such far-flung growth made suburbs like “an island that doesn’t have access to transportation,” she said.

Compounding the single-driver commute problem, new business parks were developed in wide-open spaces that were largely unserved by public transportation.

“Transit was not readily available in those new job centers,” said John Duve, project manager for transportation and air quality planning for the San Diego Assn. of Governments, a regional planning agency.

Both Laurs and Duve are confident that the planning sins that caused so many workers to drive alone in the ‘80s are being rectified as developers now build more balanced communities--not just houses, but stores, schools and transportation facilities.

“We see us returning to more village-type designs where communities are full service,” Duve said.

Another factor behind the higher percentage of solo commuting during the ‘80s was the greater numbers of women entering the work force and driving to work.

According to Sandag’s figures, the county’s 1980 work force of 932,000 people included 355,000 women. In 1990, there were 555,000 women in a 1.4-million work force.

“What that does,” Duve said, “it puts husbands and wives in two separate cars going in two separate directions.”

Reflecting the farther distances driven was the new figure on average commute time, which was unsurprisingly longer in 1990.

Trips to work went from an average 20 minutes to 22.2 minutes, which also is blamed on worsening traffic congestion.

Yet some transportation officials say the census figures don’t tell the whole story. Lone commuting may have peaked partway into the 1980s and the 1990 figure might actually reflect a decline, they said.

Manny Demetre, program director for Caltrans’ Commuter Computer, said his survey of 1,500 major employers countywide, representing 500,000 workers, shows that about 74% of the work force drives alone.

However, he emphasized, the figure was 79% three or four years ago, and is coming down.

Demetre credits the City of San Diego’s 1990 law requiring major employers to create car pool plans and goals with encouraging more workers to leave their cars behind and ride to work with co-workers.

“The ordinance is doing the job,” he said.

Local transportation officials agree that the percentage of solo commutes will dwindle in this decade. They point out that the San Diego Air Pollution Control District has proposed regulations that would require major employers countywide to follow San Diego’s example.

According to the district, commute traffic represents more than half of all miles driven, a third of all trips made, and nearly 40% of daily air pollution from vehicles.

“Companies must reduce trips to the work site,” Demetre said.

But the availability of transportation alternatives is critical, and county plans call for more freeway car-pool lanes, rail service from Oceanside to San Diego and Oceanside to Escondido, and other projects to wean people from their cars.