Commuting trade-offs and distance reduction in two-worker households

Two-worker households have received a great deal of attention in the academic literature pertaining to transportation and land use planning. Two-worker households are likely to play an increasingly important role in determining future transportation demand but their expected impact has been subject to debate. This research uses a novel approach to quantify the degree to which partner commute distance affects individual commute distance. It quantifies the degree to which partners adjust their behavior to reduce total commute distance. It also provides empirical evidence that two-worker households do indeed adjust their residence workplace configuration to reduce commute distance. It does so through the use of an adaptation of common approaches to analyzing commute distance (modeling total as well as individual commute distances) with innovative variables inspired by the literature on household location and tenure. Findings from this study reconfirm the empirical research suggesting that members of two-worker households travel the same or less than one-worker households. They also confirm that partner commute distance has a positive impact on individual commute distance, suggesting partner commute distance is complementary. At the same time, it is shown that this does not imply that partner’s do not trade-off commute distance, rather two-worker households apply strategies to decrease their total commuting distance. This research could help policy makers in better understanding the commuting patterns of two-worker households to help in adapting land use and transportation policies that can address the needs of this growing population group.