Clean Air

CLEAN AIR FACTS

At the present time, the St. Louis area is rated a "moderate" ozone nonattainment area by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Following are some examples of current St. Louis commuting habits which provide a picture of how, why, and where St. Louis stands to date:

• St. Louisans make 6 million vehicle trips each day. Of these 6 million trips, 5 million are single occupancy vehicle trips.
• 80% of the St. Louis workforce drives alone to work. In the City of St. Louis, 66.5% of all workers drive alone to work. In St. Louis County, 84.3% of all workers commute alone to work.
• 3% of the work-related trips are made on Metro.
• 12% of the entire regional workforce uses carpooling/vanpooling as a commute alternative to travel to work.
• On average, people make 3.9 vehicle trips per day.
• Motor vehicles contribute 25% of the hydrocarbon emissions in the region which, when mixed with air, form ground level ozone.
• Cars in St. Louis release 247,000 pounds of pollution each day into the region's air.
• A full bus at rush hour removes 40 cars from the highway.
• 1 car releases 15 grams of carbon monoxide every mile.
• Two MetroLink tracks have the same capacity as 16 lanes of highway.
• If a worker spends an extra 10 minutes per trip in traffic, that's 84 hours a year.
• The average American family's second largest expense is transportation.