Where are all the commuters on Friday mornings in the Puget Sound region?
Feb 25, 2016, 10:58 PM | Updated: May 6, 2016, 10:59 pm
Unless there is an accident or bad weather, the Friday morning commute seems to have far fewer cars on the road. Where does everybody go?
I asked Washington State Department of Transportation spokesperson Travis Phelps if there is any concrete reason for this cyclical drop-off.
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“A lot of folks work four days a week and take Friday off,” he explained. “There’s folks who want to make Friday their three-day weekend. There may also be folks who are taking time off to get a jump on the p.m. commute, which can be really darn bad.”
“Those are kind of our working theories, but again, it’s all anecdotal,” Phelps said.
Phelps said sometimes when there is a three-day weekend where people have Monday off, Fridays can be particularly heavy. Most of the time, however, it’s predictably light.
Is there some big government agency that doesn’t work Friday’s, or a major private employer that takes the day off?
“It’s not just one employer, it’s probably many. It’s not just one agency, it’s probably many.”
Phelps says this Friday phenomenon goes on all over the country. What are your thoughts on this? Send us a text at 98-973.
