Your graph comparing LA and Phoenix made me wonder about the potential negative impacts on traffic networks caused by inelastic housing markets. Does a high price/low housing supply city result in more congestion because low income workers have to travel further from lower cost ring neighborhoods? My 5 second Google research showed Phoenix as having a lower average one way commute than Los Angeles. I'm willing to bet that income effects exacerbate that. A white collar WFH person in Southern California could have a daily commute time of zero, but his landscaper could have a 90 minute one way trip in the morning and afternoon.
Yeah I think you're on to something. Certainly, cities without these artificial constraints that drive up costs would tend to become more dense and transition to more urban forms of transportation and shorter travel distances, for any given metro population.
I'm not sure how, say, an LA compares to, say, a Houston, and what role the affordability patterns play in the differences, but it probably does play a role.
Your graph comparing LA and Phoenix made me wonder about the potential negative impacts on traffic networks caused by inelastic housing markets. Does a high price/low housing supply city result in more congestion because low income workers have to travel further from lower cost ring neighborhoods? My 5 second Google research showed Phoenix as having a lower average one way commute than Los Angeles. I'm willing to bet that income effects exacerbate that. A white collar WFH person in Southern California could have a daily commute time of zero, but his landscaper could have a 90 minute one way trip in the morning and afternoon.
Yeah I think you're on to something. Certainly, cities without these artificial constraints that drive up costs would tend to become more dense and transition to more urban forms of transportation and shorter travel distances, for any given metro population.
I'm not sure how, say, an LA compares to, say, a Houston, and what role the affordability patterns play in the differences, but it probably does play a role.