From Excess Commuting to Commuting Possibilities: More Extension to the Concept of Excess Commuting

Mathieu Charron
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Mathieu Charron: Statistics Canada, Tunney's Pasture, RH Coats building, 19th floor, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0T6, Canada

Environment and Planning A, 2007, vol. 39, issue 5, 1238-1254

Abstract: The excess-commuting literature provides a methodological framework in which the observed average commute ( C obs ) is compared with theoretical commuting values: the minimum ( C min ) and maximum ( C max ) average commute. In this paper, I argue that real spatial behavior is ill represented by the two assumptions of optimal (minimizing or maximizing) behavior. C min and C max are in fact extreme values of a much richer distribution of commuting possibilities. I argue that all those possibilities should be taken into account in the evaluation of C obs . In order to do this, I develop a probabilistic framework where any urban form is associated with a statistical distribution of commuting possibilities, with an average and a standard deviation, within which C min and C max represent extreme and very improbable outcomes. Applied to a sample of fifty metropolitan areas, this framework helps us understand the combined association of spatial behavior and urban form with commuting.

Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:39:y:2007:i:5:p:1238-1254

DOI: 10.1068/a3897

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