KC area more auto-centric than ever

A new regional study bears out how our lives are slowly evolving in our cars.

As a group, metropolitan Kansas Citians are using their cars more in the early mornings and late afternoons, making more daily stops not related to work, and seemingly staying more in their own urban or suburban enclaves. . . .

Among the findings:

• In 1970 the typical metropolitan resident made 2.66 trips in a day. Now that's 4.26 trips.

• In 1990 almost 17 percent of travel was related to work. Now it's 14 percent.

• Also in 1990, 8 percent of trips involved dropping someone off or picking them up. Now that's 10 percent.

• Trips that start in the urban core typically end in the urban core 60 percent of the time. Trips that start in the suburbs typically end in the suburbs at rates up to 95 percent of the time.