ABSTRACT

The rapid growth of traffic demand and commute distance drove the private vehicle ownership growing substantially in Beijing, and the rapid motorization then reversely offered the preconditions for residential suburbanization, which further reinforced the longer commute distance. Workers’ commuting patterns in urban China has changed dramatically during the past decades, and the changes are closely associated with the rapid socioeconomic transitions. The Ministry of Construction of China issued the ‘Priority to Develop Urban Public Transportation’ in 2004. The policy supports, and enormous investment has led to, a tremendous development of the public transit system in Beijing, especially for the subway system. A larger accessibility gap between private cars and public transport could exist in the suburban areas. The difference of job accessibility between public transit and automobile is examined with respect to workers’ commuting in the Beijing Metropolitan Area.