• Shifting Mode Choices for Kendall Square Area Commuters: Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the mode share for driving alone had been decreasing for many years. In 2019, driving alone accounted for just over 41 percent of typical commutes for employees in the Kendall Square area. Transit played a major role in getting people to and from the area, in 2019, achieving a nearly equal mode share of 38 percent of typical commutes. The most recent 2022 mode choice data collected indicate a different commuting landscape in this post-pandemic period. 50 percent of Kendall Square employees now drive alone to work, and commuting by transit has plummeted to 27 percent of total commuters. Biking and walking have seen smaller but noticeable increases in mode share, with walking increasing from 8.5 percent to 9.8 percent, and biking increasing from 7.1 percent to 9.5 percent.

• Bicycling Bouncing Back Faster than Other Modes: Notwithstanding their relative changes in mode share, the overall volumes of automobile traffic and transit usage remained substantially below pre-pandemic levels in 2022. Yet bicycling activity (as gauged by the use of Bluebikes bike share), reflect a healthy use level, suggesting an important role of active transportation modes in mobility. Biking activity seems to have fallen by a smaller absolute amount in 2022 versus 2019 than other modes have experienced.

• Weekday versus Weekend Commuting Patterns are in Flux: In a time when many companies now offer hybrid work environments, different trends from previous years emerged when analyzing transportation by day of the week. There is evidence of an emerging Tuesday - Thursday occupancy trend in Kendall Square garages, with Monday joining Friday in significantly trailing these midweek days in garage occupancy. In transit ridership (as indicated by boardings at the Kendall/MIT Red Line Station), the difference between weekday and weekend boarding volumes used to be around 10,000 riders; in 2022, that gap has closed substantially, down to approximately 4,000 riders. A similar trend can be observed in the proportion of weekly Bluebike trips occurring in Kendall Square – the proportion of weekend trips is higher in 2022 than it was in 2019. These new patterns indicate that the previous assumption of consistent weekday and weekend transportation patterns may no longer reflect actual commuting behaviors and may not be as useful in developing transit schedules and gauging accurate travel projections.

2020 KSURP ANNUAL TRANSPORTATION REPORT

On May 14, 2021, the CRA published a new interactive 2020 KSURP Annual Transportation Report website, based on data collected in September of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, this report provides a unique and timely snapshot of how travel patterns were impacted in Kendall Square as a result of the pandemic.

If you have questions about the Annual Transportation Report’s content, or if you would like to request data, please contact Alexandra Levering by using this contact form.