First Advisor

James G. Strathman

Term of Graduation

Spring 2005

Date of Publication

Spring 4-28-2005

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Urban Studies

Department

Urban Studies

Language

English

Subjects

Commuting, Employees -- Relocation, Relocation (Housing), Work environment, Pacific Ocean -- Puget Sound

Physical Description

1 online resource (2, viii, 132 pages)

Abstract

During the past few decades, the populations of many U.S. and European cities have shown the same residence and workplace mobility patterns: Annually, approximately 10 percent of the population changed residences and approximately 20 percent of employed workers changed workplaces within the same metropolitan area. According to a U.K. transportation panel survey, annually, about 20 percent of commuters changed their commute mode.

Even though the Seattle metropolitan region experienced a substantial amount of residential and workplace mobility and a boom in employment and population in the 1990s, the morning commute time and distance was roughly constant. To explain this situation, researchers have proposed a co-location hypothesis, that is, residents and workers will change their residence or workplace or both adapt to worsening congestion.

This research attempted to shed light on the mechanism of the co-location hypothesis and commute mode adjustment using the Puget Sound Transportation Panel data consisting of seven waves of 2 consecutive years between 1989 and 1997 conducted by the Puget Sound Regional Council. Because most studies used cross-sectional work trip data to study location and commuting, the underlying relationship between location and commuting was limited. This study attempted to understand commuting patterns by residential and workplace changers.

The study found that the commuting patterns of residence and workplace relocators were the same and this was reinforced by existing gravity model. Particularly, when workers change their locations, they prefer similar commuting zone (i.e., time and distance) compared to their previous commuting zone. These behaviors caused the average commute time and distance to be stable, regardless of high residence and workplace mobility, and the rapid growth of employment and population. This analysis will provide metropolitan transportation planners with detailed information concerning commuting characteristics and high mobility.

Rights

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Comments

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43174

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