ABSTRACT
This paper provides a comparative overview of intra-urban mobility for work in China and India, given its importance in city efficiency. For India, we report small cities are best suited to those who walk and bicycle, while the car is used most in high-income cities. Scooters and mopeds are used in medium-sized cities. A surprising finding is that intra-city travellers in selected Indian cities commute by foot for distances of up to 10 km. With respect to China, cities in the east have sprawling growth, leading to longer travel times when compared with cities in other regions. Less sprawl, higher density, and more paved roads decrease the commuting time. Beijing was characterised by the longest intra-city travel, at 52 mins to cover 19.2 km, higher than the average travel distance (12.5 km) and mean travel time (35 mins). In Beijing, the city’s subway had greater positive impacts on migrants than on local residents, due to its subsidised fares. The research led to suggestions that the two countries limit the use of vehicles in core areas of their cities and raise user charges to capture the economic and ecological burden of transport choices.
