Commuting speed as a proxy for the value of time

Abstract

This study investigates driving speed derived from Google Maps as a proxy for commuting costs, introducing a novel method to address the persistent challenge in the urban form literature of empirically measuring these costs for all U.S. cities. In the monocentric city model, I evaluate driving speed against the original measures of vehicle availability and public transit usage for a broad sample of urbanized areas. Results suggest that driving speed is an appropriate proxy for commuting costs and contributes an improved empirical tool for future research on urban form and city size.