> The second graphic confirms my hypothesis ... that los angeles employers have somehow staggered their hours (or given the employees more liberty) and that rush hour has become more equally distributed over a larger time range.
That could be it. I left the Los Angeles area in 1988, so have no idea what is going on now, but just going by my memory of what it was like when I lived there I'd have guessed a different explanation.
That would be that at 4 PM you are limited by the traffic from people going home from work. By 7 PM that's largely gone, but now you are running into all the people who going out for the evening to eat, attend concerts and movies and sporting events, do evening shopping, and so on. In Los Angeles, those kind of excursions usually involved a freeway trip.
That could be it. I left the Los Angeles area in 1988, so have no idea what is going on now, but just going by my memory of what it was like when I lived there I'd have guessed a different explanation.
That would be that at 4 PM you are limited by the traffic from people going home from work. By 7 PM that's largely gone, but now you are running into all the people who going out for the evening to eat, attend concerts and movies and sporting events, do evening shopping, and so on. In Los Angeles, those kind of excursions usually involved a freeway trip.