@article {Redmond:May 2001:0049-4488:179, author = "Redmond L.S.", author = "Mokhtarian P.L.", title = "The positive utility of the commute: modeling ideal commute time and relative desired commute amount", journal = "Transportation", volume = "28", year = "May 2001", abstract = "

Two measures of commute time preferences – Ideal Commute Time and Relative Desired Commute amount (a variable indicating the desire to commute "much less" to "much more" than currently) – are modeled, using tobit and ordered probit, respectively. Ideal Commute Time was found to be positively related to Actual Commute Time and to a liking and utility for commuting, and negatively related to commute frequency and to a family/community-oriented lifestyle. Relative Desired Commute, on the other hand, was negatively related to amounts of actual commute and work-related travel, but positively related to travel liking and a measure of commute benefit. Overall, commute time is not unequivocally a source of disutility to be minimized, but rather offers some benefits (such as a transition between home and work). Most people have a non-zero optimum commute time, which can be violated in either direction – i.e. it is possible (although comparatively rare, occurring for only 7% of the sample) to commute too little. On the other hand, a large proportion of people (52% of the sample) are commuting longer than they would like, and hence would presumably be receptive to reducing (although usually not eliminating) that commute.

", pages = "179-205(27)", url = "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/port/2001/00000028/00000002/00324694" }