Abstract Limiting commuting trips in major cities is important from the environmental, social and economic standpoints. In order to design policies that aim to change commuting practices it is, however, necessary to have acquired a good understanding of the trips in question and their determinants. However, these trips have been subjected to very little study in the cities of developing countries. This paper is concerned with the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area (RJMA), and sets out to test the influence of “classical” socioeconomic and spatial variables on the distance and duration of the commuting trips of the region's inhabitants, especially those with the lowest incomes. The main original feature of this research is that it includes jobs in the informal sector. The results show that, all other things being equal, commuting distances and times are shorter for the informal sector, and people walk more from their homes to their place of work because jobs in the informal sector are more dispersed than jobs in the formal sectors. The notable exception is personal and household services for which employees (who are mainly women) live a long way from the city center where wealthy families (and their jobs) are concentrated.

    Highlights Commuting journeys become shorter the further the place of work is from the CBD. Men have longer commutes than women. Educational attainment has a negative effect on commuting times and distances. Commutes are shorter in the informal sector except in household services. In household services jobs are concentrated in the CBD.


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    Title :

    Commuting patterns in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. What differences between formal and informal jobs?


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2015-10-31


    Size :

    11 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English