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Title	"WASTEFUL' COMMUTING: A RESOLUTION
Accession No	00646265
Authors	Small, K A; Song, S
Corp. Authors / Publisher	University of California Transportation Center
Publication Date	19910000
Description	15 p.; References; Tables
Languages	English
Abstract	This note discusses the debate over the empirical underpinnings of urban economic models that are emerging under the term 'wasteful commuting.' This note clarifies the conceptual issues and provides new and more reliable empirical evidence. Distinction is made among different theoretical notions of a minimum required commute by defining it for an arbitrary pattern of land use. It is then measured using 1980 data from Los Angeles for two patterns corresponding respectively to the calculations described by Hamilton (1982) and White (1988). It was found that the required commute using the pattern corresponding to White's calculation is only about a third of the actual average commute; under the monocentric pattern, it is smaller still. It is thus noted that a large portion of commuting is excess in the sense that it cannot be explained by applying standard assumptions of urban economic models to either patterns.
TRT Terms	Calculation ; Commuting ; Land use ; Mathematical models ; Urban areas ; Urban transportation
Geographical Terms	Los Angeles (California)
Other Terms	Computations; Models; Urban land use
Subject Areas	H54 OPERATIONS AND TRAFFIC CONTROL; H12 PLANNING; I72 Traffic and Transport Planning
Report Number	Working Paper No. 87
Availability	University of California Transportation Center
TRIS Files	HRIS
Database	TRIS Online

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