Residents drive out of county for work

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - New U.S. Census Bureau figures show that central Indiana's Hamilton County has one of the nation's highest rates of residents who travel to another county for work.

The Census Bureau data shows that four out of nine workers in Hamilton County, or nearly half, travel south to adjacent Marion County for their jobs. That ranks Hamilton County sixth among the nation's counties that serve as bedroom communities.

Reports show the numbers come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey of 2006 – 2010 estimates released this week.

Those numbers also show that Marion County, which is the home of Indianapolis, has one of the nation's highest numbers of commuters coming in from another county. The data show more than 205,000 people who work in Marion live outside the county.

Kim Russell makes up part of the 59 percent of Johnson County drivers that head to a different county every day for work.

“It’s probably about 30 minutes, and I leave a quarter to 8, and I have to be here about 8:30,” explains Russell. “I would not want to be traveling from north that's for sure. That's a little too far for me.”

Andrew McGee with Commuter Connect matches drivers with other commuters so they can carpool. It's all done online and it's free. Currently the program has 217 drivers from Hamilton County carpooling at least three times a week.

“Typically the conversation for car pooling starts and stops with just their coworkers. So say for instance they're here downtown and work in a small office. That conversation starts and stops with the 5-10 people in their office. We try to expand upon that and find people that are driving to and from work around the same time,” explains Andrew McGee, Commuter Connect manager.

McGee says car pooling is not only a greener choice for drivers, it cuts down on stress.

“If people can let someone else do the driving, they're less stressed out. And car pooling, well half the time, you alternate and you're not the one that has to fight the traffic on the way in the morning,” says McGee.

Commuter Connect does offer carpoolers who commit three times a week free emergency cab rides five times a year.