Effects of Jobs–Residence Balance on Commuting Patterns

Abstract

Jobs–residence balance is believed to be an important way to reduce commuting distance and related externalities. Although literature on jobs–residence balance is rich, relatively few studies investigate it in relation to employment industry sectors. However, consideration of the unique features of different industry sectors, such as workers’ ability and working hours, is necessary to gain useful knowledge. In addition, variability in commuting distance is an important factor often neglected in previous studies. Low variability implies a high potential for car sharing and for use of transportation services. This paper fills the voids of existing literature by investigating three employment industry sectors in relation to both averages and standard deviations of commuting distances. A seemingly unrelated regression model with spatial error was applied to examine the relationship between jobs–residence balance and commuting patterns. The investigation also considered the effects of urban forms, which had been found to be influential in commuting patterns. Two groups of cities, compact and sprawled, were used as the cases of different urban forms. Results showed that jobs–residence balance was more sensitive to the goods-producing sector and to compact regions. Meanwhile, an efficient commuting pattern was associated with a high jobs–residence ratio, clustered industry distribution, and dense road networks with few intersections.