Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, BTS.
Home-to-work commuting profiles are a core dimension of urban mobility because they represent employment and revenue-generating movements. They include the length, time, and speed of a commute, which underline an increasingly challenging context for urban mobility. Historically, cities have experienced a space/time convergence, particularly since the 1900s when bicycles, public transit systems, and cars became available. This meant that commuting was generally improving in terms of speed, even if the average commuting distance was increasing. The suburbanization of housing and employment took place quickly, but its impacts on congestion remained marginal.
From the 1990s, the context started to shift rapidly with a space/time divergence in part attributed to a vicious circle of congestion, implying longer trips as well as longer trip durations and a growing amount of time spent commuting. The average commuting speed has been steadily decreasing, but the post-COVID-19 period underscores slight improvements. This is in part due to an increase in telecommuting, leaving fewer vehicles on the road.