The spatial distribution of journey-to-work trips in Greater London

Abstract

Although a great deal is known about the distribution of homes and the distribution of workplaces in Greater London, the spatial relationship between them is less well understood. Using 1966 census data, the authors try to give a simple visual picture of this relationship, and to assess the relative travel intensities which would arise at different points in London from commuter trips, assuming straight line routing.

The results show firstly that a large proportion of the population work quite close to their homes, with radial travel towards the city centre being only slightly more prominent than other directions of movement. The remainder tend to work near the city centre and to travel much longer distances. Secondly, relative to various annuli at 2 km increments centred on Charing Cross, the amounts of through traffic expressed as a proportion of the totals are roughly constant for radii between 4 and 14 km. Thirdly, people's choice of home in relation to their workplace is, on the whole, quite efficient, since it gives rise to a total amount of travel which is much closer to the theoretical minimum than it is to the amount corresponding to a random choice of homes from the available stock.