Employment suburbanisation, reverse commuting and travel behaviour by residents of the central city in the Paris metropolitan area

Anne Aguilera (1) , Sandrine Wenglenski (2) , Laurent Proulhac (2)

1 INRETS - Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Sécurité
2 LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport

This paper analyses the relationship between employment suburbanisation in the Paris metropolitan area, the growth of reverse commuting and changes in the weekday travel behaviour of working residents of the central city over a 20 years period. The results show that the number of reverse commuters has significantly increased because the municipality of Paris has lost many jobs but few working residents whilst employment has developed in the suburbs. Reverse commuters are mainly and increasingly high income professionals whose workplace is located close to the central city in employment sub-centres that are well served by public transport. Consequently reverse commuters have lower than average car use although differences exist and are related to their professional status. The policy implications of these findings are discussed in the conclusion.

Mots clés: suburbanisation; reverse commuting; travel behaviour; central city residents; Paris metropolitan area

Domaines: Géographie

Anne Aguilera, Sandrine Wenglenski, Laurent Proulhac. Employment suburbanisation, reverse commuting and travel behaviour by residents of the central city in the Paris metropolitan area. Transportation Research. Part A, General, 2009, 43 (7), pp.685-691. ⟨10.1016/j.tra.2009.06.004⟩. ⟨halshs-00489827⟩