Chicago: In & Out Capital of US; is there a 2nd place? (people, Boston)
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Sure it does, the entire 128 technology corridor and Metro West are both major major suburban employment hubs.
“Major major” might be a bit of an exaggeration. Traffic in Boston is still largely into/out of downtown, and there’s no commuter rail train that runs along 128.
“Major major” might be a bit of an exaggeration. Traffic in Boston is still largely into/out of downtown, and there’s no commuter rail train that runs along 128.
Yeah, Chicago also has a lot of employment in the Cook County panhandle and DuPage but these areas aren't secondary transit hubs.
“Major major” might be a bit of an exaggeration. Traffic in Boston is still largely into/out of downtown, and there’s no commuter rail train that runs along 128.
Arent there around 10 Fortune 1000 companies based in the 128 area? Id say its pretty major. Obviously not downtown Boston.. but pretty damn major. Cities like Orlando, Newark, Memphis and Milwaukee would kill for that
San Francisco seems very in-and-out to me. All BART lines from the suburbs converge in downtown. IIRC there is only one spur of BART that runs along the East Bay, but from what I know this is the least traveled line. The systems seems to have been designed (or at least built) mainly to get people downtown and back to the burbs.
The commuter line, Caltrain is a single line along the peninsula that terminates just outside downtown now and will eventually end at the central bus station,which actually is in downtown SF. In-and -out. (Caveat: It does run through Silicon Valley, so perhaps there is a higher degree of reverse/partial commuters using it beside for just those coming to SF. Never ridden this line so I cannot say for sure.)
The biggest interstate is I -280, which starts south of the city and terminates just outside of downtown SF -- basically in and out. Highway 101 is the only big highway all the way through the city--and it basically only connects the Penninisula with the Golden Gate or Bay Bridge, though a portion of it does run on city streets.
As for NYC, I don't quite get the reason of excluding it from major in-and-out, especially if Midtown is considered the true core. (Which I think accurate.) All commuter trains terminate there -- Grand Central and Penn Station. All but a few subway lines (the G, J, L, Z) go through Midtown in a classic hub-and-spoke system. And those that don't, connect to a line that does. Two major car tunnels empty into Midtown--the Lincoln and Queens Midtown -- as does one major bridge, the 59th St bridge. All of those are jam-packed during commute hours for sure. And getting around the periphery of NYC via mass transit is quite difficult because all lines go to Manhattan. Only option, as in Chitown, are buses or taxis. In short, almost everything goes to Midtown. The ultimate in-and-out.
San Francisco seems very in-and-out to me. All BART lines from the suburbs converge in downtown. IIRC there is only one spur of BART that runs along the East Bay, but from what I know this is the least traveled line. The systems seems to have been designed (or at least built) mainly to get people downtown and back to the burbs.
The commuter line, Caltrain is a single line along the peninsula that terminates just outside downtown now and will eventually end at the central bus station,which actually is in downtown SF. In-and -out. (Caveat: It does run through Silicon Valley, so perhaps there is a higher degree of reverse/partial commuters using it beside for just those coming to SF. Never ridden this line so I cannot say for sure.)
The biggest interstate is I -280, which starts south of the city and terminates just outside of downtown SF -- basically in and out. Highway 101 is the only big highway all the way through the city--and it basically only connects the Penninisula with the Golden Gate or Bay Bridge, though a portion of it does run on city streets.
As for NYC, I don't quite get the reason of excluding it from major in-and-out, especially if Midtown is considered the true core. (Which I think accurate.) All commuter trains terminate there -- Grand Central and Penn Station. All but a few subway lines (the G, J, L, Z) go through Midtown in a classic hub-and-spoke system. And those that don't, connect to a line that does. Two major car tunnels empty into Midtown--the Lincoln and Queens Midtown -- as does one major bridge, the 59th St bridge. All of those are jam-packed during commute hours for sure. And getting around the periphery of NYC via mass transit is quite difficult because all lines go to Manhattan. Only option, as in Chitown, are buses or taxis. In short, almost everything goes to Midtown. The ultimate in-and-out.
Almost nothing San Francisco is known for in in San Francisco. Not Stanford, not Facebook, not Berkley, not Google, not the 49ers.
Almost nothing San Francisco is known for in in San Francisco. Not Stanford, not Facebook, not Berkley, not Google, not the 49ers.
The well-known spots are different than the business core.
Long before the rise of the Silicon Valley tech giants, SF was a huge regional banking and business services center and remains so to this day with the likes of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Visa, Charles Schwab, Morrison & Foerster (BigLaw), and a slew of other investment advisory and legal firms, as well as a handful of corporate headquarters. And the core--the city itself-- is only getting busier as the tech companies move in or grow. (Salesforce is probably the biggest and richest of these, but probably not as well known to the average guy on the street because it is B-to-B, unlike UBer, Lyft, Dolby, Airbnb, which are consumer names ). In addition there is UC San Francisco, one of the best medical schools in the world--easily a peer to Stanford, John Hopkins, Harvard, Mayo. It just built an impressive new campus, just off from downtown.
And of course the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants are pretty much household names.
In the sense that OP described the "core" of the city and its in-and-out dynamic, built in differing concentric tiers, I think SF qualifies as much as Chicago. (But I would not include Silicon Valley here. That low-rise, sprawling, suburban conglomeration is just a horse of a different color. )
Last edited by citylove101; 08-25-2019 at 06:11 PM..
The well-known spots are different than the business core.
Long before the rise of the Silicon Valley tech giants, SF was a huge regional banking and business services center and remains so to this day with the likes of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Visa, Charles Schwab, Morrison & Foerster (BigLaw), and a slew of other investment advisory and legal firms, as well as a handful of corporate headquarters. And the core--the city itself-- is only getting busier as the tech companies move in or grow. (Salesforce is probably the biggest and richest of these, but probably not as well known to the average guy on the street because it is B-to-B, unlike UBer, Lyft, Dolby, Airbnb, which are consumer names ). In addition there is UC San Francisco, one of the best medical schools in the world--easily a peer to Stanford, John Hopkins, Harvard, Mayo. It just built an impressive new campus, just off from downtown.
And of course the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants are pretty much household names.
In the sense that OP described the "core" of the city and its in-and-out dynamic, built in differing concentric tiers, I think SF qualifies as much as Chicago. (But I would not include Silicon Valley here. That low-rise, sprawling, suburban conglomeration is just a horse of a different color. )
You can’t omit the largest companies and industry from a metro. SF probably has the weakest directionality of basically any metro in terms of commuting.
You can’t omit the largest companies and industry from a metro. SF probably has the weakest directionality of basically any metro in terms of commuting.
If you believe that you've probably never tried commuting there. I have, many times, especially when I've had to stay in the Eat Bay. Trust me, the one-way rush to and from a very compact downtown SF during commute hours is huge. And I am talking San Francisco, not the entire Bay Area. I am talking the core of the city/county of San Francisco, which is what OP asked about. That just does not include Silicon Valley, which is much more spread out and does not IMO have a 'core' like Chicago, NYC, Boston, or SF. (Downtown San Jose BTW just doesn't cut it.) As to the big companies there in the city itself, I think I covered that.
The following list of major metro commute times shows that the commute in SF is worse than in Chicago, so even without looking at this before I posted, I think that my mentioning SF as at least as directional with regard to the core as Chicago stands, though commutes by car or mass transit can definitely change the time one spends getting to downtown. (And my hometown is listed for worse commute at No. 1. As I said, I don't quite understand why OP omitted it. )
And yes Boston commuting time is very high at third worst, though I'd wager a lot of that is not in-and-out at all toward downtown, but rather folks getting to their workplace along 128 or elsewhere. There are a lot of people who live AND work outside of Boston proper. Surely you know that!
Last edited by citylove101; 08-25-2019 at 08:40 PM..
Cities like Orlando, Newark, Memphis and Milwaukee would kill for that
Not quite apples to apples.
Anyway, it’s also worth mentioning that if Boston had annexed neighboring towns and cities like Chicago, then Waltham (where many of those companies are) might be part of the city proper. 128 might not be downtown, but it’s still pretty central compared to cities in other parts of the country.
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