This paper deals with commuter travel and commuter travel patterns in Europe. It appears that despite clear differences between countries as to labour force and employment characteristics, degree of urbanization, and so on, commuter travel patterns are found to be rather similar. Notwithstanding the importance of commuter travel for transport planning in most European countries only limited systematic information on this class of travel is available. Mainly for the North-Western European countries some data sources are available; since these countries are comparable as to the stage in economic development which precludes the possibility of analysing the very relevant relationship between economic development and commuter travel patterns. It is strongly recommended to add some travel related questions to the EC Labour Force Survey, as long as national travel surveys are not carried out in a coordinated fashion throughout Europe. On balance, commuter travel is expected to increase further in the foreseeable future.
Abstract