Determinants of Commute Time in an Indian City

Abstract

Given the conspicuous lack of adequate research on commute time in the Indian intra-urban context, the research questions we answer in this article are: what is the average commute time to work for residents? What does this imply for the city’s effective labour market? What are the determinants of commute time to work? This article studies the questions for a large Indian city, known for its traffic gridlocks. Given that published data on journey-to-work is not readily available for Indian cities, we report findings from primary surveys of commuters travelling to work in Bengaluru. The actual time taken by commuters to reach their workplace is 42.45 minutes one-way, implying an insignificant reduction in the city’s effective labour market since 2001. We use geographic information systems to map the sectoral flow of workers and their origins and destinations within the city. Estimating regressions of the determinants of commute time, we find that workers in government jobs travel longer to get to work, elevation has a negative effect on commute time, and commute distance positively impacts travel time. The contribution of the article is the report of an Indian city’s commute time and its determinants, which can be used to influence policy. JEL Classification: R12, R41, R42