Transport characteristics of 30 Canadian urban areas

The 1971 Census of Canada journey tc work data are analyzed for thirty Canadian census areas. The census data on work to home spatial linkages have been supplemented with information on the arterial road network distances between census tracts. The per capita amount of work trip travel increases with increasing size of census area. The amount of work trip travel is clearly related to the mean labour participation rate and the mean work trip length. An analysis of these factors across census areas shows that while there are significant variations in the labour participation rates between census areas the mean trip length is the dominant factor. While the mean trip tends to increase with increasing census area size other factors have an important influence. Geographical characteristics and the spatial properties of employment are more important than size. Spatially disaggregated analyses of labour force participation rates show that household structure properties should be included in any prediction equations. Gravity model calibrations in each of these census areas show that the deterrence function parameter magnitude is influenced by the properties of the census tract system. Areas must be stratified by population size in order to obtain rational interpretations of the calibration parameter magnitudes