Congestion impacts of shopping using vehicle tracking data

Shopping and retail trade play an important role in the economy, yet shopping activities and associated on-street parking and disruptions to traffic could substantially contribute to congestion in the megacities of the developing and emerging countries. This research investigates and quantifies the effects of shopping and related road-side frictions and disruptions on congestion in a city. We make use of minute by minute GPS tracking data of vehicles and a unique policy of different shopping closure days in different areas of the city, which allows the separation of shopping related congestion effects from commute and other effects. Results show that average speed increased by 18.5% on weekdays when shopping centres were closed. The differences in speed in the different zones can also be qualitatively related with the density of shopping centres in those zones.