Excess commuting and modal choice

This paper reports results from research conducted to analyse the extent of excess commuting in Dublin, Ireland. The research differs from similar studies on excess commuting in two ways. First, a disaggregate modal choice analysis of excess commuting is undertaken for two time periods – 1991 and 2001. Second, sensitivity analysis is undertaken to explore the impact of changes in the density of the transport network for users of public and private transport. The results suggest that excess commuting is considerably greater for users of private transport implying the greater inefficiency of commuting associated with that mode. By way of contrast, capacity utilisation measures suggest the opposite indicating the difficulty of using these measures for policy-making. The results suggest also that the greater inter-mixing of jobs–housing functions has facilitated reductions in actual commuting costs as well as increasing the range of available trip possibilities over the study period. In terms of the sensitivity analysis, the results suggest that public transport users could achieve dramatic savings on their commute if the density of that network was increased considerably.     

A socioeconomic analysis of commuting professionals

Transportation - Everyday commuting as a mobility phenomenon is well-investigated and has been the topic of many contributions. Nevertheless, the distinct determinants of the commuting...     

Jobs-housing imbalance, spatial correlation, and excess commuting

In this paper, we use continuous urban structure instead of zonal model, try to calculate unbiased excess commuting with joint distribution of homes and workplaces developed by Vaughan (1974), and describe the relationship between urban structure and commuting distance explicitly and theoretically for generalized home-workplace assignment pattern. We simplify the quadrivariate distribution model to a model with three important parameters: the spread of homes, the spread of workplaces, and the spatial correlation of homes and workplaces. Then we show that excess commuting and capacity utilization are expressed by the imbalance and the spatial correlation of jobs-housing structure in a theoretical context, moreover it explicitly evaluates targeting US and Japanese/Korean cities.     

Traditional neighborhoods and commuting in the San Francisco Bay area

Neo-traditional designs, proponents argue, reduce dependency on the automobile and provide attractive environments for walking, bicycling, and transit riding. This paper explores the extent to which this proposition holds for seven traditional neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area that evolved around early streetcar services. Matched-pair comparisons of modal shares and trip generation rates for work trips are made between these neighborhoods and newer auto-oriented suburbs, controlling for the effects of income and, to a lesser extent, existing bus service levels. Pedestrian/bicycle modal shares and trip rates tended to be considerably higher, in some cases five time as high, in transit-oriented than in the paired auto-oriented neighborhood. Transit neighborhoods also averaged around 70 more daily transit work trips per 1,000 households than auto-oriented neighborhoods, though trip rates varied considerably among neighborhood pairs. Higher residential densities were also found to have a proportionately greater impact on transit commuting in transit-oriented than in auto-oriented neighborhoods. The paper concludes that in order to yield significant transportation benefits, neo-traditional development must be coordinated with larger regional planning efforts and public policy initiatives to reduce automobile dependency.     

The impact of urban form on commuting in large Chinese cities

Studies on cities in Europe and the United States have demonstrated that travel behaviour is influenced by urban form. Based on these findings policies steering the shape of cities have been proposed to reduce urban transport emissions and limit congestion. Such policies can also be relevant for the rapidly growing and motorising Chinese cities. Yet, empirical evidence on the relationships between urban form and car usage is scarce for the specific Chinese context that is characterised by high densities, fast development and strong government steering. Using novel crowd-sourced datasets we study the impact of several urban form variables (city size, urban density, land-use mix, polycentricity and spatial clustering) on the cost of commuting expressed in time and distance. The results show that city size and spatial clustering are important determinants of commuting: large cities without clear clusters of businesses and other facilities have longer average commuting times and distances. Increased prosperity also adds to longer and lengthier commutes. Spatial planning measures that maintain or reinforce high-density clusters can help limiting commuting distance and time. Current sprawled urban development may have long-term, negative consequences for the accessibility and liveability of Chinese cities and could hamper their economic potential.     

Reassessing the commuting penalty for immigrants: new evidence from Spain

Transportation - This article examines the differences in commuting length between native and immigrant employees in Spain, a relevant issue since immigrants' longer commuting times may, among...     

The social context of informal commuting: Slugs, strangers and structuration

Despite considerable interest in the role of social interactions and social context on transportation, there have been very few attempts to explore specific cases of social interaction influencing transportation systems. This paper explores the social practice of slugging, an informal system of carpooling in the Washington, DC area. Slugging emerged in response to the establishment of Virginia’s High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in the early 1970s, as single drivers picked up riders alongside the road (slugs) in order to meet the requirements for driving in the less congested HOV lanes. Drawing on the work of sociologist Anthony Giddens, as well as the sociological insights of Georg Simmel and Stanley Milgram, we suggest that the practice of slugging highlights the processes of institutionalization and structuration. This paper details how the region’s mass transportation policies and urban culture have combined to result in an institutionalized practice with particular norms and logics of behavior. We conclude that looking at specific cases where social context has affected transportation, like slugging, could provide useful insights on the impact of social context on transportation policies and systems.     

The tax treatment of company cars, commuting and optimal congestion taxes

In Europe, the preferential tax treatment of company cars implies that many employees receive a company car as part of their compensation package. In this paper, we consider a model in which wages and the decision whether or not to provide a company car are the result of direct negotiation between employer and employee. Using this framework, we theoretically and numerically study first- and second-best optimal tax policies on labour and transport markets, focusing on the role of the tax treatment of company cars. We obtain the following results. First, higher labour taxes and a more favourable tax treatment of company cars raise the fraction employees that receives a company car; congestion and congestion tolls reduce it. Second, in countries that provide large implicit subsidies to company cars, eliminating the preferential tax treatment of company cars may be an imperfect but quite effective substitute for currently unavailable congestion tolls. The numerical illustration, calibrated using Belgian data, suggests that it yields about half the welfare gain attainable through optimal congestion taxes. Third, the favourable tax treatment of company cars justifies large public transport subsidies; the numerical results are consistent with zero public transport fares. Finally, we find that earlier models that ignored the preferential tax treatment of company cars may have substantially underestimated optimal congestion tolls in Europe. The numerical illustration suggests that about one third of the optimal congestion toll we obtain can be attributed to the current tax treatment of company cars.     

Modeling commuting mode choice jointly with work start time and work duration

This paper presents a joint trivariate discrete-continuous-continuous model for commuters’ mode choice, work start time and work duration. The model is designed to capture correlations among random components influencing these decisions. For empirical investigation, the model is estimated using a data set collected in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in 2001. Considering the fact that work duration involves medium- to long-term decision making compared to short-term activity scheduling decisions, work duration is considered endogenous to work start time decisions. The empirical model reveals many behavioral details of commuters’ mode choice, work start time and duration decisions. The primary objective of the model is to predict workers’ work schedules according to mode choice, which is considered a skeletal activity schedule in activity-based travel demand models. However, the empirical model reveals many behavioral details of workers’ mode choices and work scheduling. Independent application of the model for travel demand management policy evaluations is also promising, as it provides better value in terms of travel time estimates.     

Volatility of car ownership, commuting mode and time in the UK

This paper has two objectives: to examine the volatility of travel behaviour over time and consider the factors explaining this volatility; and to estimate the factors determining car ownership and commuting by car. The analysis is based on observations of individuals and households over a period of up to 11 years obtained from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). Changes in car ownership, commuting mode and commuting time over a period of years for the same individuals/households are examined to determine the extent to which these change from year-to-year. This volatility of individual behaviour is a measure of the ease of change or adaptation. If behaviour changes easily, policy measures are likely to have a stronger and more rapid effect than if there is more resistance to change. The changes are “explained” in terms of factors such as moving house, changing job and employment status. The factors determining car ownership and commuting by car are analysed using a dynamic panel-data models.     

Willingness to accept commuting time within the household: stated preference evidence

In this study, stated preference data is used to derive estimated values of commuting time (VOCT). Both spouses in two-earner households are individually making trade-offs between commuting time and wage; both with regard to their own commuting time and wage only, as well as when both their own commuting time and wage and their spouse’s commuting time and wage are simultaneously changed. Thus, we are able to compare how male spouses and female spouses value each other’s commuting time. When only ones own commuting time and wage are attributes, the empirical results show that the estimated VOCT is plausible with a tendency towards high values compared to other studies, and that VOCT does not differ significantly between men and women. When decisions affecting commuting time and wage of both spouses are analyzed, both spouses value the commuting time of the wife highest. Further analysis show that this result is driven by households where the man has the highest income. If VOCT were to be gender specific in policy implications, the value might be higher for women than for men in two-earner households.     

Cycle commuting in Belgium: Spatial determinants and ‘re-cycling’ strategies

This paper attempts to explain the spatial variation of the use of a bicycle for commuting to work at the level of the 589 municipalities in Belgium. Regression techniques were used and special attention was paid to autocorrelation, heterogeneity and multicollinearity. Spatial lag models were used to correct for the presence of spatial dependence and a disaggregated modelling strategy was adopted for the northern and southern parts of the country. The results show that much of the inter-municipality variation in bicycle use is related to environmental aspects such as the relief, traffic volumes and cycling accidents. Town size, distance travelled and demographic aspects also have some effect. In addition, there are regional differences in the effects of the structural covariates on bicycle use: the impact of variables such as traffic volume and cycling accidents differs substantially between the north and the south of the country. This paper also suggests that high rates of bicycle use in one municipality stimulate cycling in neighbouring municipalities, and hence that a mass effect can be initiated, i.e. more cycle commuting encourages even more commuters in the area to cycle. These findings provide some recommendations for decision-makers wishing to promote a shift from car to bicycle use.     

Balanced strategy based on environment and user benefit-oriented carpooling service mode for commuting trips

Transportation - Besides saving money and providing convenience, carpooling can result in environmental benefits to society; therefore, it is important to promote and improve daily carpooling...     

The influence of built environment to the trends in commuting journeys in the Netherlands

In this paper we describe commuting trends in the Netherlands in the past decade and examine the influence of urban form and travel accessibility on commuting journeys over time on the basis of data from the Dutch National Travel Survey. Exploratory analysis is performed to identify changes in commuting participation, departure time, commuting time, commuting distance and the modal split. Regression analysis and choice models are used to examine the influence of the built environment on commuting parameters over time. The results indicate that urban form has consistently influenced the parameters of commuting journey in the Netherlands in the last 10 years. However, the trend of the influence is unique for each commuting model. Some influences have become less significant in the last decade and some have become stronger.

The effect of socio-economic factors on the value of time in commuting to work

It is important to specify accurately the dollar value assigned to time savings, since up to eighty percent of the benefits estimated to accrue from improvements in transportation systems are associated with savings in travel time. In this paper the economic theory of consumer choice is utilized to structure a model that is used to estimate how Value of Time (VOT) measures vary with community-related variables.Parameters for this theoretical model are empirically estimated using data from transportation surveys conducted in Ithaca and Syracuse, New York and Amherst, Massachusetts. The results confirm the validity of the theoretical model and suggest that leisure time, travel cost, and household income level, as well as community population, are important determinants of the marginal value of time. These models are particularly suited for transferring data results obtained in one community to another, thereby saving survey costs, since the resulting VOT estimates are based solely on underlying socio-economic variables and community characteristics that are known for most localities. The methodology is also useful for estimating different VDT's for particular population subgroups, like the elderly, which may be the focus of a particular transportation project.     

Modelling commuting mode choice with explicit consideration of carpool in the choice set formation

This article investigates the carpool mode choice option in the context of overall commuting mode choice preferences. The article uses a hybrid discrete choice modelling technique to jointly model the consideration of carpooling in the choice set formation as well as commuting mode choice together with the response bias corrections through the accommodation of measurement equations. A cross-nested error structure for the econometric formulation is used to capture correlations among various commuting modes and carpool consideration in the choice set. Empirical models are estimated using a data set collected through a week-long commuter survey in Edmonton, Alberta. The empirical model reveals many behavioural details of commuting mode choice and carpooling. Interestingly, it reveals that interactions between various Travel Demand Management (TDM) tools with the carpooling option can be different at different level of decision making (choice set formation level and final choice making level).     

Route choice and the value of commuting time: An economic model of dichotomous choice

This paper presents an economic model of generalized travel cost and provides an empirical study of the parameters of the cost function. The route-choice model that is estimated combines McFadden's theory of qualitative choice behavior with a function for the value of travel time in which total trip time and the income level are assumed to influence the marginal value of time. The empirical results indicate that, for a sample of commuters in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1972, the value of time is a positive function of total trip time, but is not a function of income.     

Neighborhoods,cars, and commuting in New York City: A discrete choice approach

Cities around the world are trying out a multitude of transportation policy and investment alternatives with the aim of reducing car-induced externalities. However, without a solid understanding of how people make their transportation and residential location choices, it is hard to tell which of these policies and investments are really doing the job and which are wasting precious city resources. The focus of this paper is the determinants of car ownership and car use for commuting. Using survey data from 1997 to 1998 collected in New York City, this paper uses discrete choice econometrics to estimate a model of the choices of car ownership and commute mode while also modeling the related choice of residential location.The main story told by this analysis is that New Yorkers are more sensitive to changes in travel time than they are to changes in travel cost. The model predicts that the most effective ways to reduce both auto ownership and car commuting involve changing the relative travel times for cars and transit, making transit trips faster by increasing both the frequency and the speed of service and making auto trips slower – perhaps simply by allowing traffic congestion. Population density also appears to have a substantial effect on car ownership in New York.     

Substitution between working at home and out-of-home: The role of ICT and commuting costs

This paper analyzes the trade-off between working at home and out-of-home, ICT and commuting time. To this end, we develop a microeconomic demand system, which explicitly incorporates both time and income constraints. Commuting time is considered as the price to be paid for working out-of-home and a decrease in earnings as the price for working at home. For the latter, we find that working at home leads to a (marginally significant) reduction of the wage rate of about 19%, but this gap largely disappears when ICT is used for at home work. To examine the relation between out-of-home and at home work empirically, we estimate a translog indirect utility function, from which we are able to estimate substitution and price elasticities between working at home and out-of-home for The Netherlands. The results show that changes in ICT and commuting time display rather weak substitution effects on working out-of-home and at home, respectively. Moreover, individual characteristics – especially age and education – seem to be more important for the choice between working at home and out-of-home than ICT availability or commuting time.