Unveiling the population heterogeneity in time-money trade-offs: Insights from Beijing’s subway commuters

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2025

Subject Area

place - asia, place - urban, mode - subway/metro, economics - willingness to pay, policy - sustainable, ridership - commuting, ridership - modelling, technology - passenger information, technology - ticketing systems, land use - planning, planning - methods

Keywords

Commuting, Housing, Prices, Subways, Travel time

Abstract

Developing sustainable and inclusive strategies for cities requires moving beyond universal solutions to address the diverse preferences of urban dwellers. However, the challenge lies in the invisible nature of these preferences. Here, we reveal residents’ preferences for time versus money by investigating the relationship between commuting time and housing prices. Using a multivariate linear regression model to analyze data from 219,000 Beijing subway commuters (153,000 from subway smartcard data and 66,000 from mobile phone signaling data), we find that: 1) Commuting time is negatively related to housing prices, indicating a trade-off between time and money. Specifically, for every ten thousand yuan per square meter change in housing prices, commuting time changes by 3 to 7 min. 2) The exchange rate of this trade-off reveals heterogeneity among residents. Measured by housing price changes, the willingness to pay for every minute of reduced commuting time in high-priced areas is three times that of low-priced areas. Long-distance commuters (those with a daily commute of over 90 min) require five times the compensation for an additional minute of increased commuting time compared to non-long-distance commuters. These findings highlight the need for urban policies that respond to residents’ diverse preferences, enhancing sustainability in urban planning.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS