Introduction
In this article we compare Boca Raton’s progress on increasing non-vehicle transportation mode share to Seattle Washington. We also look at Boca Raton’s Planned Mobility Development Outcomes.
Background
For some background on Planned Mobility Development (PMD) in the city please see Why is Traffic Increasing in Boca Raton? – BocaFirst

Seattle and Boca 2010-2019 Mobility Results
We use Seattle for benchmarking since they were chosen in a study as the US city that has grown the most in non-vehicle transportation mode share. Here is a link to a video describing the study and results: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/on-the-right-track-the-10-most-improved-cities-in-the-u-s-for-transit-walking-and-biking/vi-AA1vbShR
At 14:40 in the video the details are explained regarding why Seattle was chosen. In the timeframes studied, the usage of these transportation modes increased by the percentages shown in the following table. The transportation modes were used by survey respondents to get to work.
To make sure that our Boca comparison is valid we used the same database and same timeframes that the authors in the video used. The difference is that we used Boca Raton data instead of Seattle. Following are the results from the American Community Survey (ACS) database.
Seattle | Boca | |
---|---|---|
Transit | +3.8 | -.2 |
Walk | +2.6 | +1.4 |
Bike | +0.7 | -0.3 |
Boca 2010-2023 Mobility Results
The authors of the study in the video stopped their analysis in the year 2019; however, we decided to extend Boca’s analysis to 2023, the most current year in the ACS database. Following are Boca’s comparison extended to 2023.
Boca | |
---|---|
Transit | -0.3 |
Walk | +2.1 |
Bike | -0.1 |
This is a complex situation and to arrive at significant causes for the results requires some deep analysis. But that analysis should be done, and outcomes should be regularly tracked and fed back into the city’s decision-making process.
Boca Raton Planned Mobility Development Determination
Because Boca’s PMD regulation was adopted in 2010 we would expect to see positive mode share across all three categories. In our article that we reference in the Background section above we raised concerns about city infrastructure connectivity not being adequate to contribute to non-vehicle mode share growth.
That is one possible explanation for the weak mode share growth in the two Boca categories. Due to the huge future investments in developments that are anticipated and their impact on quality of life in the city, this should be better understood.
It is interesting to note Boca’s positive walk scores across the two study periods. This is a desirable outcome and should be better understood. Perhaps understanding this better will inform a plan to improve transit and bike outcomes.
Summary
This article compares Boca Raton’s status on non-vehicle transportation mode share to Seattle Washington. We also look at Boca Raton’s planned mobility development outcomes.
According to the survey data walking to work in the city is increasing, whereas taking transit and biking to work is decreasing.
In general, it is recommended that mode share outcomes in Boca be tracked and made visible on an annual basis. Current American Community Survey data is available at no cost to the city. This information could be used to trigger studies into the reasons for the outcomes and then generate plans to improve results.