The Rational Locator: Why Travel Times Have Remained Stable

This paper evaluates household travel surveys for the Washington metropolitan region conducted in 1968 and 1988, and shows that commuting times remain stable or decline over the twenty year period despite an increase in average travel distance, after controlling for trip purpose and mode of travel. The average automobile work-to-home time of 32.5 minutes in both 1968 and 1988 is, moreover, very consistent with a 1957 survey showing an average time of 33.5 minutes in metropolitan Washington. Average trip speeds increased by more than 20 percent, countering the effect of increased travel distance. This change was observed during a period of rapid suburban growth in the region. With the changing distributional composition of trip origins and destinations, overall travel times have remained relatively constant. The hypothesis that jobs and housing mutually co-locate to optimize travel times is lent further support by these data.

[1]  Hans Blumenfeld What of the Exploding Metropolis? , 1959, American journal of public health and the nation's health.

[2]  TRENDS IN TRAVEL TO THE CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT BY RESIDENTS OF THE WASHINGTON, D.C., METROPOLITAN AREA, 1948 AND 1955 , 1959 .

[3]  J. H. Niedercorn,et al.  SUBURBANIZATION OF EMPLOYMENT AND POPULATION 1948-1975 , 1963 .

[4]  Kevin E Heanue,et al.  A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF TRIP DISTRIBUTION PROCEDURES , 1966 .

[5]  TRANSPORTATION IMPLICATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT TRENDS IN CENTRAL CITIES AND SUBURBS , 1967 .

[6]  EMERGING PATTERNS OF URBAN GROWTH AND TRAVEL , 1968 .

[7]  Jeffrey Kenworthy,et al.  Gasoline Consumption and Cities: A Comparison of U.S. Cities with a Global Survey , 1989 .

[8]  P. Newman,et al.  CITIES AND AUTOMOBILE DEPENDENCE: AN INTERNATIONAL SOURCEBOOK , 1989 .

[9]  P. Gordon,et al.  The Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis: Some New Evidence , 1989 .

[10]  F. Hayek,et al.  The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism , 1989 .

[11]  Harry W. Richardson,et al.  GASOLINE CONSUMPTION AND CITIES: A REPLY , 1989 .

[12]  R. Cervero Jobs-Housing Balancing and Regional Mobility , 1989 .

[13]  R. Langlois The Fatal Conceit: The errors of socialism , 1990 .

[14]  John R. Meyer,et al.  Privatizing and Deregulating Local Public Services Lessons from Britain's Buses , 1990 .

[15]  M. Jun,et al.  THE COMMUTING PARADOX: EVIDENCE FROM THE TOP TWENTY , 1991 .

[16]  G. Stewart,et al.  Downtown population growth and commuting trips - recent experience in Toronto , 1991 .

[17]  G. Giuliano Is Jobs-Housing Balance a Transportation Issue? , 1991 .

[18]  B. Chinitz A Framework for Speculating about Future Urban Growth Patterns in the US , 1991 .

[19]  Jeffrey Kenworthy,et al.  Is There a Role for Physical Planners , 1992 .

[20]  Mark E. Hanson,et al.  Automobile Subsidies and Land Use: Estimates and Policy Responses , 1992 .

[21]  A E Pisarski NEW PERSPECTIVES IN COMMUTING , 1992 .

[22]  The Commuting Paradox: A Reply , 1992 .

[23]  L. Bourne,et al.  Self-Fulfilling Prophecies?: Decentralization, Inner City Decline, and the Quality of Urban Life , 1992 .

[24]  Peter Newman,et al.  Cities and automobile dependence , 1993 .