Commuting costs of “leap-frog” newtown development in Seoul

Abstract

Abstract The study aims to estimate commuting costs of the “leap-frog” new town development in the Seoul Metropolitan Area. In order to measure the commuting costs of the “leap-frog” new town development, we assume a contiguous new town construction to Seoul, allowing new town development within Seoul's Greenbelt. Total VMT savings from the contiguous new town development to Seoul are 744 million km/year. Average commuting distance would be shortened by 1.5% for every worker of the SMA if 196 thousand workers (2.7% of total jobs) and 420 thousand residents (5.7% of total commuters) in new towns have been relocated into hypothetical new towns. Total commuting costs associated with the leapfrog new town development are $42.45 million per year for out-of-pocket costs ($5.82 per commuter), or $255 million per year ($34.88 per commuter) including value of travel time. The biggest benefit goes to the workers who live or work in the new towns with the “contiguous new town development” scenario. The average work trip distances of residents and workers of new towns would have substantially decreased by 27% and 17%, if the five new towns had been developed contiguously to Seoul. VKT savings for the residents and workers of the new towns are 1141 million km/year and 256 million km/year, respectively. New town residents would gain commuting cost savings of $155/year excluding the value of travel time and of $927/year including the value of travel time by the relocation of new towns towards Seoul.