Variations in excess commuting by educational and occupational worker subgroups: A case study of Shanghai

Abstract

The excess commuting framework has been used to explore the potential of reducing commuting. Many papers on excess commuting evaluate commuting efficiency from the perspective of average trip length, while very few studies measure commuting orderliness from another perspective --- spatial organization. Additionally, some previous disaggregate analyses focus on a single socio-economic class, which may fail to uncover the nuanced relationship between observed commuting and urban land use. Based on the National 1% Population Sampling Survey (NPSS) in Shanghai, this study examines variations in excess commuting by three educational levels and five occupational types from the perspectives of average trip length and spatial organization. The results suggest that there are significant excess commuting differences across fifteen worker subgroups, which highlights the importance of considering education and occupation simultaneously. There is a complex relationship between the average trip length and spatial organization of commuting pattern. Manufacturing workers for all education levels commute longer but show less excess commuting than other sectors. Social service workers have a shorter commuting distance but a more disordered commuting organization. The results also show that highly educated workers contribute the most to excess commuting.