IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/3007.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The impact of urban spatial structure on travel demand in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Bento, Antonio M.
  • Cropper, Maureen L.
  • Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq
  • Vinha, Katja

Abstract

The authors combine measures of urban form and public transit supply for 114 urbanized areas with the 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey to address two questions: (1) How do measures of urban form, including city shape, road density, the spatial distribution of population, and jobs-housing balance affect the annual miles driven and commute mode choices of U.S. households? (2) How does the supply of public transportation (annual route miles supplied and availability of transit stops) affect miles driven and commute mode choice? The authors find that jobs-housing balance, population centrality, and rail miles supplied significantly reduce the probability of driving to work in cities with some rail transit. Population centrality and jobs-housing balance have a significant impact on annual household vehicle miles traveled (VMT), as do city shape, road density, and (in rail cities) annual rail route miles supplied. The elasticity of VMT with respect to each variable is small, on the order of 0.10-0.20 in absolute value. However, changing several measures of form simultaneously can reduce annual VMT significantly. Moving the sample households from a city with the characteristics of Atlanta to a city with the characteristics of Boston reduces annual VMT by 25 percent.

Suggested Citation

  • Bento, Antonio M. & Cropper, Maureen L. & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq & Vinha, Katja, 2003. "The impact of urban spatial structure on travel demand in the United States," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3007, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2003/04/23/000094946_03040404262857/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marlon G. Boarnet & Sharon Sarmiento, 1998. "Can Land-use Policy Really Affect Travel Behaviour? A Study of the Link between Non-work Travel and Land-use Characteristics," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(7), pages 1155-1169, June.
    2. David M. Levtnson & Ajay Kumar, 1997. "Density and the Journey to Work," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 147-172, March.
    3. Wheaton, William C., 1998. "Land Use and Density in Cities with Congestion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 258-272, March.
    4. Ian W. H. Parry & Kenneth A. Small, 2005. "Does Britain or the United States Have the Right Gasoline Tax?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1276-1289, September.
    5. Crane, Randall, 1998. "Travel By Design?," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt3pc4v6jj, University of California Transportation Center.
    6. Kenneth Train, 1980. "A Structured Logit Model of Auto Ownership and Mode Choice," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(2), pages 357-370.
    7. Peter Mieszkowski & Edwin S. Mills, 1993. "The Causes of Metropolitan Suburbanization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 135-147, Summer.
    8. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2001. "Decentralized Employment and the Transformation of the American City," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1912, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    9. Lave, Charles A, 1970. "The Demand for Urban Mass Transportation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 52(3), pages 320-323, August.
    10. McDonald, John F., 1989. "Econometric studies of urban population density: A survey," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 361-385, November.
    11. Genevieve Giuliano & Kenneth A. Small, 1993. "Is the Journey to Work Explained by Urban Structure?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 30(9), pages 1485-1500, November.
    12. Fred Mannering & Clifford Winston, 1985. "A Dynamic Empirical Analysis of Household Vehicle Ownership and Utilization," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(2), pages 215-236, Summer.
    13. Matthew E. Kahn, 2000. "The environmental impact of suburbanization," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 569-586.
    14. Dubin, Jeffrey A & McFadden, Daniel L, 1984. "An Econometric Analysis of Residential Electric Appliance Holdings and Consumption," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 345-362, March.
    15. Puller, Steven L. & Greening, Lorna A., 1999. "Household adjustment to gasoline price change: an analysis using 9 years of US survey data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 37-52, February.
    16. Baum-Snow, Nathaniel & Kahn, Matthew E., 2000. "The effects of new public projects to expand urban rail transit," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 241-263, August.
    17. Crane, Randall & Crepeau, Richard, 1998. "Does Neighborhood Design Influence Travel?: Behavioral Analysis of Travel Diary and GIS Data," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt4pj4s7t8, University of California Transportation Center.
    18. Stephen Malpezzi, 1999. "Estimates of the Measurement and Determinants of Urban Sprawl in U.S. Metropolitan Areas," Wisconsin-Madison CULER working papers 99-06, University of Wisconsin Center for Urban Land Economic Research.
    19. McFadden, Daniel, 1974. "The measurement of urban travel demand," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 303-328, November.
    20. Boarnet, Marlon & Crane, Randall, 2001. "The influence of land use on travel behavior: specification and estimation strategies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 823-845, November.
    21. Mills, Edwin S., 1992. "The measurement and determinants of suburbanization," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 377-387, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lara Engelfriet & Eric Koomen, 2018. "The impact of urban form on commuting in large Chinese cities," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 1269-1295, September.
    2. Safirova, Elena A. & Houde, Sébastien & Harrington, Winston, 2007. "Spatial Development and Energy Consumption," RFF Working Paper Series dp-07-51, Resources for the Future.
    3. Javier Asensio, 2002. "Transport Mode Choice by Commuters to Barcelona's CBD," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(10), pages 1881-1895, September.
    4. Tae-Hyoung Gim, 2012. "A meta-analysis of the relationship between density and travel behavior," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 491-519, May.
    5. Chatman, Daniel G., 2008. "Deconstructing development density: Quality, quantity and price effects on household non-work travel," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(7), pages 1008-1030, August.
    6. Kim, Jinwon, 2012. "Endogenous vehicle-type choices in a monocentric city," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 749-760.
    7. Andrew Perumal & David Timmons, 2017. "Contextual Density and US Automotive CO2 Emissions across the Rural–Urban Continuum," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 40(6), pages 590-615, November.
    8. Cao, Xinyu, 2006. "The Causal Relationship between the Built Environment and Personal Travel Choice: Evidence from Northern California," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt07q5p340, University of California Transportation Center.
    9. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E., 2004. "Sprawl and urban growth," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 56, pages 2481-2527, Elsevier.
    10. Jen-Jia Lin & An-Tsei Yang, 2009. "Structural Analysis of How Urban Form Impacts Travel Demand: Evidence from Taipei," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(9), pages 1951-1967, August.
    11. Sridhar, Kala Seetharam, 2004. "Cities with suburbs: Evidence from India," Working Papers 04/23, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    12. Cao, XinYu, 2007. "The Causal Relationship between the Built Environment and Personal Travel Choice: Evidence from Northern California," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt1n90z8h8, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    13. Su, Qing, 2011. "The effect of population density, road network density, and congestion on household gasoline consumption in U.S. urban areas," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 445-452, May.
    14. Sridhar, Kala Seetharam, 2007. "Density gradients and their determinants: Evidence from India," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 314-344, May.
    15. Musti, Sashank & Kockelman, Kara M., 2011. "Evolution of the household vehicle fleet: Anticipating fleet composition, PHEV adoption and GHG emissions in Austin, Texas," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 707-720, October.
    16. Su, Qing & Zhou, Liren, 2012. "Parking management, financial subsidies to alternatives to drive alone and commute mode choices in Seattle," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 88-97.
    17. Cao, Xinyu (Jason) & Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Handy, Susan L., 2009. "The relationship between the built environment and nonwork travel: A case study of Northern California," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 548-559, June.
    18. Khordagui, Nagwa, 2019. "Parking prices and the decision to drive to work: Evidence from California," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 479-495.
    19. Diao, Mi, 2019. "Towards sustainable urban transport in Singapore: Policy instruments and mobility trends," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 320-330.
    20. Banzhaf, H. Spencer & Kasim, M. Taha, 2019. "Fuel consumption and gasoline prices: The role of assortative matching between households and automobiles," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 1-25.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3007. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.