Assessing residential location and commuting preferences

Abstract

Understanding the interplay between residential location choices and commuting behavior is crucial for addressing urban mobility and housing policies. This paper introduces a comprehensive survey conducted in Germany, integrating three discrete choice experiments to simultaneously measure preferences for residential locations, commuting distances, and transportation modes. The sample comprises 1,169 employed respondents, recruited through a professional service provider with quotas based on age, gender, and residential location. Experiment 1 focused on residential location preferences without considering commuting characteristics, utilizing a Multiple Discrete-Continuous Extreme Value (MDCEV) model to assess budget allocations for various dwelling attributes. Results indicate that the quality of the residential area holds greater significance than the specific place of residence. Experiments 2 and 3 explored the trade-offs between dwelling characteristics and commuting time, alongside mode choice preferences. These experiments revealed that while dwelling attributes are prioritized over commuting duration, commuting time remains a significant factor in residential decisions. Notably, teleworking scenarios were associated with a reduction in the Value of Travel Time Savings (VTTS) for commuting, highlighting the diminishing burden of travel time for remote workers. The three experiments build progressively from housing preferences to commuting trade-offs and mode choices. Together, they reveal how residential and mobility decisions interact. The findings contribute valuable insights for integrating residential location and travel demand models, emphasizing the impact of teleworking on future commuting patterns. Future work will focus on joint model estimations and further integration into predictive models to inform integrated land-use and transport planning policies.