Examining daily commuting patterns using GIS

Flanders, a polycentric area at the heart of Europe, has to deal with a large traffic pressure. In Flanders, 80% of motorised commuting trips occur by car, resulting in congestion and concomitant environmental and economic problems. In this study, we analyse commuting patterns to examine where time difference due to congestion is highest. Additionally, we study the geographical spread of travel time with public transport. To conclude, we compare the results for both car and public transport, to evaluate whether or not public transport offers a decent alternative to car transport. For this analysis, we combine two origin-destination-matrices. The first gives the number of simulated trips between all TAZs from the Multi Modal Model of Flanders. Second, the actual travel time per trip measured with floating car data is available, for car in both peak and off-peak hours, and for public transport. The combination of simulated commuting flows with accurate travel times, offers a detailed view of commuting patterns. In Flanders, in the greater vicinity around Brussels and Antwerp time difference between on and off-peak hours is highest. Time difference between car and public transport is often high. However, to large cities as Brussels and Antwerp it is low, indicating that public transport can be a decent alternative from car transport