Work Travel Research Articles

Targeting travel awareness campaigns: Which individuals are more likely to switch from car to other transport for the journey to work?

This paper adds to the work on the subject of car dependency and seeks to give more precise guidance to those responsible for promoting travel awareness campaigns by exploring which car commuters are likely to be the best targets for marketing non-car modes. The findings from research examining the relationship between current travel behaviour and attitudes to changing behaviour are reported. It is suggested that whilst the majority of car commuters are highly car orientated and not susceptible to mode change a significant minority are susceptible to change. This group are more likely to be male, in their 30s and, most importantly undertake short distance work journeys of 5 miles or less. In addition to identifying target groups, the paper provides guidance on the policy changes required in order to encourage a shift from the car to an alternative mode. It is clear that raising individual awareness is an important factor in addressing the issue of car dependency.

Biochemical and physiological parameters and estimated work output in draught horses pulling loads for long periods

A study was undertaken in five draught horses of 648 +/- 33 kg body weight to find the effects of continuously pulling loads on their cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic responses. A cart equipped with an odometer, for measuring distance, and a hydraulic dynamometer, for measuring draught force, was used. Heart and respiration rates and rectal temperatures were recorded. Blood samples for measuring arterial and venous pH and blood gases, haemoglobin, glucose and lactic acid concentrations and the serum activity of the enzymes creatine phosphokinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase were taken before exercise and immediately after each journey (morning and afternoon) of the daily work. Draught exercise, with loads which generated forces of between 0.57 and 0.59 kN, at speeds of 1.60 to 2.11 m/s, for 8 h daily for five consecutive days, with resting intervals of 10 min each hour, was well tolerated. Exercise tolerance was evaluated from the recovery from the changes observed in the biochemical and physiological parameters induced by the work. The analysis of these showed that, when the horses were subjected to prolonged periods of resting, their loss of fitness for work was shown by significant increases in the serum activity of muscle-derived enzymes and in blood lactate concentrations during the first day of work. However, over the following days the horses adapted to the work, so that the decreases in serum enzyme activities and blood lactate concentrations were reduced. Since similar observations have been described for racehorses, the determination of blood lactate concentrations and the serum activities of muscle-derived enzymes, specifically CK, seem to be good indicators of fitness in draught horses.

A Tale of a Few Cities: Interculturalism on the Road

This is a personal record of a theatre worker's journey to places where theatre is inextricably mixed with politics — or is no less significantly divorced from social concerns. Visiting mainland China and South Africa in the summer of 1990, Richard Schechner records how theatre people confronted the aftermath of major political upheavals – the crushing of hopes in Tiananmen Square, and the perhaps deceptive raising of them following the release of Nelson Mandela. His trip also took in the widely different perspectives and problems of Taiwan, where pluralism struggles (almost unnoticed in the West) to displace an ageing autocracy. Richard Schechner teaches at New York University, and recently returned to the editorial chair at The Drama Review, the journal he conducted through its vintage years in the 'sixties – at the same time creating the Performance Group, and beginning his researches into theatre and anthropology, the field in which he has published widely and innovatively in the interim.

A Tale of a Few Cities: Interculturalism on the Road

This is a personal record of a theatre worker's journey to places where theatre is inextricably mixed with politics — or is no less significantly divorced from social concerns. Visiting mainland China and South Africa in the summer of 1990, Richard Schechner records how theatre people confronted the aftermath of major political upheavals – the crushing of hopes in Tiananmen Square, and the perhaps deceptive raising of them following the release of Nelson Mandela. His trip also took in the widely different perspectives and problems of Taiwan, where pluralism struggles (almost unnoticed in the West) to displace an ageing autocracy. Richard Schechner teaches at New York University, and recently returned to the editorial chair at The Drama Review , the journal he conducted through its vintage years in the 'sixties – at the same time creating the Performance Group, and beginning his researches into theatre and anthropology, the field in which he has published widely and innovatively in the interim.

Interaction between urban form and mode choice for the work journey: Manchester/Sheffield 1971–1981

Dasgupta M., Frost M. and Spence N. (1985) Interaction between urban form and mode choice for the work journey: Manchester/Sheffield 1971–1981, Reg. Studies 19, 315–328. This paper analyses the intra-city, inter-city and temporal variations in the mode used for the work journey in Manchester and Sheffield. The research examines the interaction between mode choice and urban structure by establishing associations between mode choice and residential location (as measured by distance from the city centre), socio-economic factors, and land use attributes. Temporal changes are affected by factors operating nationally, such as the growth of car ownership. Intra-city variations may be explained by the spatial ordering of socio-economic and land use attributes. Inter-city differences could arise from differing urban structure, the relative distribution of homes and jobs, as well as contrasting transport policies.

Ridesharing in great Britain: Performance and impact of the Yorkshare schemes

Four organised car sharing schemes (the YORKSHARE schemes) were established and monitored in West Yorkshire between 1979 and 1981. Three of the schemes were based on a employment sites and one on a residential suburb. Differences in site characteristics and in procedures allowed conclusions to be drawn as to the determinants of scheme performance and impact on the transport system. The proportion of the target population participating in new car sharing arrangements as a result of the YORKSHARE promotion varied from 2% to less than 0.5%. Impacts on car use for the work journey were minor and the main result was an abstraction of public transport patronage. The indirect impacts of car sharing appeared to be unimportant. The paper reports on a detailed analysis of costs and benefits and includes comments on the proper role of ridesharing promotion within transport policy.

On the kinematics and quantum dynamics of traffic flow

The hydrodynamic model of traffic flow is presented and interpreted. Traffic dimensions are defined for the dynamic entities of flow and the behaviour of congestive and dispersive flow is discussed dependent on the value of the local traffic transfer number, R. The wave equation is one example of dispersive flow, where quantum numbers define the condition of free flow at the endpoints of the link. The Schrödinger equation is defined and applied to the study of the cyclic work journey and the problem of traffic lights as an harmonic oscillator.

Labour market areas in Great Britain: Developments since 1961

Since employment problems vary widely between individual localities, the definition of local labour market areas is of considerable importance for employment policy. The paper describes the results of studies undertaken to identify changes in self-contained labour market areas (LMAs) throughout Great Britain between 1961 and 1971. LMAs are defined by the application of a gravity formula to commuter flows between areas. The number of LMAs fell by one third over the decade, reflecting longer average work journeys. LMAs tended to combine on stable and predictable lines, through the strengthening of their main previous commuter links. The studies also show marked contrasts in LMA patterns between the central and peripheral regions of Britain. Most of the conurbations comprise a number of separate LMAs (some of them extending far into the surrounding countryside) and thus cannot be regarded as unified labour markets. Over one half of the 25 largest LMAs are located outside the conurbations, representing large self-contained economic communities which are inadequately recognised in conventional geographical categories. The paper also notes recent changes in the Department of Employment's “travel to work areas” based on similar criteria. Finally, it seems likely that LMAs have continued to expand since 1971 as the result of interconnected developments in housing, employment and transport.

Office dispersal in metropolitan areas 1: a review and framework for analysis

Policies advocating restraint on the growth of office activity in central areas, and the dispersal of that activity to suburban centres have become increasingly popular in large metropolitan areas in Britain and Australia in recent years. This is the first of two papers which explore the implications of such a policy in detail. For these policies have been based on rather subjective judgements and on conventional wisdom; it has simply been assumed that they would solve growing problems of central congestion, environmental disamenity and job access. Little attention has been paid to the full range and distribution of costs and benefits that might arise. Experience to date has suggested that while an office dispersal policy has the potential to reduce problems in the central area, it can also give rise to serious problems of congestion, increased energy consumption and inequities of access in suburban areas. These problems which stem from the likely switch from public transport to cars for work journeys have generally been ignored by those advocating dispersal policies, and have received little attention in the few academic studies of this area. The paper concludes by outlining the assumptions and methodology adopted for a comprehensive case study of the cost and benefits of an office dispersal policy within the metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia.

Effects of BART on Work Journeys in the Bay Area

This paper analyzes work journey patterns in the Bay Area before and since the 71-mile BART began service, and assesses BART-provided improvements in transit accessibility to employment centers. Current journey-to-work BART ridership is analyzed as a share of the total journey-to-work travel market, both areawide and in the key transbay commute corridor between San Francisco and Oakland. BART now serves 135,000 one-way trips each weekday, two-thirds of these to and from work. BART's share of area-wide work trips is only about 5%, and since half of BART's ridership has come from bus, the impact on the overall automobile/transit modal split has been small. However, BART has been more successful in the travel market it was primarily designed to serve: long-distance commute trips from the suburbs to the central cities. BART carries 27% of all work trips from residences in the BART service area taking 35 min or more.

Commuter Perceptions of Public Transport Work Journeys

Commuter perceptions of certain public transport peak-hour performance characteristics are quantified for samples of car-owning public transport users and car users in six randomly selected areas of the Dublin conurbation. The existence of roadside survey data (for buses) and timetables (for trains) has permitted an analysis of the degree of distorted perception of in-vehicle times, waiting times, and costs. Results show that the use of objective performance data on public transport modes in urban transportation planning models needs to be questioned, as actual times and costs seldom reflect the subjective images of commuters.

Confluence at the work site; some applications of urban work-journey analyses

A number of alternative methods of analysing work journey data exist, and a large body of literature has grown up concerning the work trip, because of the the importance of the importance of the journey-to-work to the total traffic patterns of urban areas. This study compares a number of techniques as applied to work trip data collected in Perth, Scotland. Using a simple computer matrix, work site locations and employee residences are examined; accessibility concepts are utilized to analyse time-distance relationships, the distribution of the labor force, and varying employment opportunities; the distribution of land uses is examined to determine its effect on work-journey flows; and finally modal is noted as a co-variant with some of the distance relationships. The results of these analyses add further support to the earlier reports, and in particular two findings (the existence of a work site trip confluence area and a field from which work trips are drawn) resemble the study of the potential concept by macrogeographers. /AUTHOR/

Confluence at the work site some applications of urban work journey analyses

Confluence at the work site some applications of urban work journey analyses