POLYCENTRISM, COMMUTING, AND RESIDENTIAL LOCATION IN THE SAN-FRANCISCO BAY AREA

The San Francisco Bay Area has taken on a distinct polycentric metropo litan form, with three tiers of hierarchical employment centers encirc ling downtown San Francisco, the region's primary center. In this pape r it is found that polycentric development is associated with differen tials in suburban and urban commute trip times: commute trips made by employees of suburban centers are shorter in duration than commute tri ps made by their counterparts in larger and denser urban centers. Diff erentials were even greater, however, with respect to commuting modal splits. Lower density, outlying employment centers averaged far higher rates of drive-alone automobile commuting and insignificant levels of transit commuting. Smaller, outlying centers were also the least self -contained, with a large number averaging twenty or more times as many external as internal commutes. The effects of housing availability an d prices on the residential locational choices of those working both i n urban and in suburban employment centers are also investigated in th is paper. Locational choices are stratified by occupational class and type of center. High housing prices in and around employment centers w ere found to displace workers to residences in other subregions, excep t in the case of professional workers in fast-growing, outlying center s. These workers were attracted to higher-priced nearby housing. In th e empirical analysis, significant segmentation in housing choices amon g workers in fast-growing suburban centers was found. This could be pa rtly due to selective land-use policies implemented by local governmen ts in these areas.