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Some imagine the Dallas driver spends more time commuting than the Paris transit rider. The cost of the large suburban house! They’d be wrong. The typical Dallas commute is 56 minutes a day. The Paris transit rider loses about 95, walking and waiting included.

Bar chart comparing daily round-trip commute time. Dallas driver 56 minutes, Paris transit rider 95 minutes, walking and waiting included. US Census ACS and transit surveys. @smirkley

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3:40 PM · Jul 11, 2026

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Smirkley

@Smirkley

12h

You wanted the Dallas number to be vehicles only? Car and carpool commuters in Dallas spend 52 minutes a day getting to work and back. Paris transit riders spend 95. Door to door for both.

Yet another commodity guy

@tleilax___

95 minutes per day of commute within Paris proper is basically impossible. Within the Paris Ile de France entire metropolitan area, yes, but then you would need to include Dallas suburbs too. Oh and the average home to work commute is 38 minutes for the Paris Region as per

1.1K

Smirkley

@Smirkley

It’s Dallas metro-area vs Paris metro.

This situation is typical in every large dense city, including New York. However, some political groups will claim that public transit is quicker than driving, or that dense cities have shorter commute times.

Transit advocates imagine the world is an episode of Friends or a modern American in Paris. Truth is commuting on transit in a major metro sucks unless you both live and work downtown, which most people can’t. You can’t fit 10 million people in a few square miles.

The devil is in the details. All modes for Dallas VS only public transit for Paris. When you look at all modes for Paris metro area, avg only slightly higher than Dallas, which makes sense since Paris is denser than NYC. Very misleading graph skewed to make Dallas look better.

This was in response to a cars are a tax in time vs public transit regarding the Dallas vs Paris debate. So the latter number is fine. 96% of DFW commuters (excluding WFH) get to work by car. And, wait for it: Dallas transit averages 48 minutes one way, versus a 26 minute

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You have to consider the much higher costs of car ownership and that a car-dependent society doesn’t give you the option not to bear. The median American household spends 20% of their income on car ownership when payments, insurance, gas, and maintenance are totaled.

The higher cost is because of the cars Americans *choose* to purchase. Americans need cars they don’t need F150s.

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Dale Evans (pseudonym)

@DaleEvans22611

13h

The American number is probably only drive time. Time to get car out of garage and driveway onto road, time to park in large office lot and walk to building should be included to be comparable. Still shorter, but by less.

The question is How many minutes did it usually take this person to get from home to work LAST WEEK? The extra time is all supposed to be inside that number. Maybe some responders interpret it incorrectly.

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@SFLTVBossMan

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Gérôme de Brague

@gerome_pistre

15h

I was right, but was still expecting Paris to be shorter than Dallas.

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Gérôme de Brague

@gerome_pistre

20h

Translated from French

How to torture the data to force one's point of view: we don't compare the same things, we do a bit of cherry-picking, and reality bends to the language. In practice, we're closer to a difference of about ten minutes. x.com/Smirkley/statu…

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Mocha :3

@PuppyBoyMocha

on public transit you can do work and be productive. you can't be on your computer while you drive

SHΞRKHAN.S◎L

@sherkhantx

18h

The time spent walking and sitting are completely different than the 1hr driving commute. Dallas is great, but for most people Paris is much, much nicer in almost every way.

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Swolecialist

@BlackLanterrn

No matter how hard you try with whatever stats you pull, youll never successfully argue that Dallas is better than Paris

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Waffle House Falkreath

@jarlbillclinton

Jul 11

i like how you don’t include a source for the paris data

The handful of times I take the train to work in Chicago it takes 50% longer.

Imre Huss

@imrehuss

14h

Compare the obesity rate in Dallas County (36%) to Ile de France (14%)… countless other quality of life differences too. How many minutes do Dallas residents spend driving to and from restaurants, grocery stores, entertainment, etc?

Is that residents of the city of Dallas or the entire DFW metroplex?

A point not elaborated on is suburban roads & freeways are designed to get people around to their jobs quickly and efficiently. City urban core roadways are designed to slow traffic, have lights every block, accommodate pedestrians & bikes ahead of vehicles.

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PatriotTeaParty

@Patri0tTeaParty

Bookmarking this for that high-speed rail retard that pops up on my timeline all the time.

@BarlowBlunt

11h

the Parisian can work on a train

Jerry T

@JerryTurin

13h

I recall a story my girlfriend told others last night about a stint commuting into the city center hub from a distance suburb, and having a shorter time commute than co-workers taking the bus or even driving from within the city core.

We live in north Fort Worth. My husband works in north Dallas. His commute with traffic is around 90 minutes. Without traffic, 40 minutes. I know, not the same lol. It’s a trek.

BobTheRabbit

@BobtheRabbithat

And the trains in Paris can and will and do shut down with no warning! For strikes, etc, and they don’t care! They will leave you stranded at 11 pm and no train until morning, no problem. 🫪

Nicholas Zukin

@extramsg

Jul 12

I can't find any source for the Paris numbers anywhere and you haven't included one. What did you do, pick a random origin and destination on Google maps?

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@tryarchpublic

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The media could not be played.

Although the stay has value, there is two important pieces missing: 1. Commute in car != commute in public transport 2. The things you do after work also dont need a car in cities like Paris but tend to be walking distance

I'd easily take the parisian commute

Yeah, I used to ride Marta (Atlanta) but it was never quicker. It was cheaper than parking. There are a couple of great locations where it does work but politics (from both “sides”) kept it from being as good as it should. Cars don’t work in NYC but their commutes are not short

Maximus

@Maciamo

18h

Why do you compare Dallas with Paris in the first place? Dallas is a relatively new city that is spread out with white avenues. Paris is over 2,000 years old, twice more populous and six-time denser. It's like comparing apples and oranges.

Public transport is a waste of money, time and freedom. Self-driving electric vehicles are here today. Americans living in burbs are enjoying life while folks living in show box sized houses in filthy and crime infested cities are coping by wasting money on expensive food and

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