Changing travel to work patterns in South East England

The Greater South East England region of the UK constitutes a “global mega-city region”. The UK Government’s 2003 Sustainable Communities strategy proposes major new growth centres in South East England at Ashford, Milton Keynes, Stansted, Cambridge and Thames Gateway. These, along with the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line in 2004 and the completion of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2007, could have major impacts on commuting patterns. To understand the effect of these changes on commute distance and mode choice, the relationships between travel-to-work patterns and socio-economic and land-use characteristics are examined. The analysis suggests that the creation of the new growth centres may result in increased car use but is unlikely to result in longer journeys to work.