ABSTRACT
A key parameter to the calculation of wasteful commuting is intrazonal travel distance or time. As the concept of wasteful commuting emphasizes the gap between actual and optimal commute lengths, it makes more sense to also estimate actual commute time through network analysis since the optimal commute is an estimated measure. Economists often make assumptions in order to simplify a model with reasonable complexity while capturing the most important essence of real-world issues. Hamilton used exponential functions to approximate the spatial distribution of homes and jobs and the straight-line distance from the Hamilton to estimate the commuting lengths. The formulation of optimal commute at the individual level utilizes the Monte Carlo simulation of resident workers and jobs. Average minimum commuting time and distance are significantly lower than the optimal commute time and distance obtained at the census tract level. This difference validates the impact of zonal effect on the measure of wasteful commuting as pointed out by Hamilton.
