Labour mobility between cities and metropolitan integration: The role of high speed rail commuting in Spain

Results have highlighted the complexity of the variables involved in the decision to commute by HSR. This complexity is linked to the causal relations between the most representative variables, namely unemployment rates and housing prices, which are more difficult to study during periods of economic crisis. The location of the HSR station has been revealed as a key indicator, and is even more significant (in the case of the Madrid functional area) than the actual availability of the HSR commuting services.