The spatial–temporal dynamics in job accessibility by car in the Netherlands during the crisis

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the changes in spatial–temporal job accessibility by car in the Netherlands during the economic crisis (2009–14). It also assesses which component change is the most determinant in accessibility changes per municipality and part of the day. The paper shows that changes in job distribution reduced accessibility in almost the entire country, except around Amsterdam. Improvements in the road network capacity increased accessibility in the central provinces, particularly during peak hours. In summary, the values of job accessibility by car in the Netherlands became more transport dependent, except in the Amsterdam region.

KEYWORDS:

• job accessibility
• dynamic accessibility
• traffic congestion
• spatial–temporal patterns
• economic crisis
• the Netherlands

JEL:

• J60
• R14

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are very grateful to the peer reviewers, whose most welcome comments improved the clearness and utility of this paper.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Borja Moya-Gómez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0520-039X

Karst T. Geurs http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0918-8903

Notes

1. ‘Active population includes both employed (employees and self-employed) and unemployed people, but not the economically inactive, such as pre-school children, school children, students and pensioners’ (EUROSTAT, 2014).

2. Municipality delimitations in 2010.

3. See the third section.

4. See the fourth section.

5. Residential zone: the jobs/population ratio is < 2.2 (it is the 95th percentile) and there are at least 0.5 jobs in services sector/inhabitant. The average for 2009 is 0.4932 jobs/inhabitant.

6. FRC definitions: 0: Motorway, freeway, or other major road; 1: Major road less important than a motorway; 2: Other major road; 3: Secondary road; 4: Local connecting road; 5: Local road of high importance; 6: Local road; 7: Local road of minor importance; 8: Other roads.

7. The previous log-logistic impedance-decay function was rewritten in order to avoid some logarithm conceptual limitations.

8. These days were chosen because they had the worst job accessibility values at both peaks. For the figures for every weekday and a table with weighted averages at the Dutch level, see Appendix A in the supplemental data online.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) [grant number TRA2011-27095 (SPILLTRANS)]; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) [grant number TRA2015-65283-R (DYNACCES)]; and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) [grant numbers EEBB-I-14-08424 and EEBB-I-15-09741 (Spanish National Sub-Programme for Mobility, 2013 and 2014 editions, within the National Programme for the Promotion of Talent and its Employability)].