Transportation

Having access to reliable and timely transportation impacts a person’s options for work, school, shopping, and healthcare. Life in the Omaha metro is significantly more challenging and may impose limitations for those who don’t have access to a car.

Public Transit Access

The current transit system focuses on frequent service in high-density urban areas.

However, gaps in access may persist as employment centers opt to locate in suburban areas, which are not conveniently accessible by transit.

Nebraska and Iowa both rank low in public spending on transit.

Nebraska and Iowa both rank in the bottom 15 states for per capita public spending on transit.

Biking & Walking

Very few paths in our community travel east to west, so pathways are primarily used for recreation rather than transit.

In the Omaha metro, biking and walking to work remain consistently low. A 2019 ConnectGO survey found that 65% of respondents did not feel safe riding a bicycle for transportation.

Iowa ranks higher than Nebraska for walking and biking to work.

When compared to other states, Iowa ranks 23rd and Nebraska ranks 36th in their percentages of residents who walk or bike to work.

Average Commute Time

For more than one third of people who use public transit in our community, it takes more than 45 minutes to get to work, compared to 6% of people who drive a car.

In a 2019 ConnectGO survey, about 65% respondents reported a lack of satisfaction with the quality of transit service in the Omaha metro, and 60% reported a lack of satisfaction with the current service area of public transit.

We fare better than St. Louis and Kansas City but not as well as other cities in the Midwest.

However, travel to work times for those using public transit has slightly improved since 2016.

Transit to and from Work

People at all income levels use public transit at a consistently low rate.

Public transit use is consistently low across income levels, although rates of people who carpool increase among people whose incomes place them at or below the poverty line.

We fall below national public transit usage rates but are on par with our regional peers.

When looking at similar Midwest cities, local transportation use rates are almost identical.