THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUTING TIME IN METROPOLITAN BRAZIL BETWEEN 1992 AND 2013

ABSTRACT

The commuting time has risen substantially at metropolitan areas in Brazil over the last decade. This phenomenon has strong implications on the well-being of individuals, on the labor supply patterns and on regional urban development. However, the consequences of this problem are unevenly distributed among the population. This paper aims to contribute to the debate of urban mobility issue in Brazilian cities by analyzing the commuting time evolution between 1992 and 2013 and their differences according to the workers own characteristics, such as gender, race, income, and job. The average commuting time raised since 2003, featuring a particularly important issue for Brazilian metropolises in the second millennium. Workers with higher average commuting times reside in the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. However, the highest growth rates occurred in the metropolitan areas of Pará, Salvador and Recife, suggesting the need for better-targeted and planned urban mobility public policies. Considering the socioeconomic differences, the poorest and the richest (extremes of the income distribution) tend to have lower commuting times than the general population. This pattern is maintained over time, with higher average commuting time between the poorest, showing a face of inequality. However, the travel time of the richest grew more than among the poorest, which raises the question of urban mobility beyond the problems of social exclusion.

Keywords:
urban mobility; commuting time; labor market; metropolitan region.