The impact of relocations on distances traveled for commuting and grocery shopping: structural equation models of panel data

Residential relocations open a window of opportunity to decrease distances to work and other important daily destinations, such as grocery stores. This study investigates changes in trip distances after residential relocation, using data from a panel survey of 435 movers in Germany. We estimate two structural equation models for changes in commute and shopping trip distance. These models additionally allow us to draw insights into the relationships between spatial structure, travel attitudes, satisfaction with the accessibility of the workplace or shopping facilities, and housing preferences in residential location search. We find that there is a weak indication of an association between residential location choice and changes in trip distances. However, the analysis suggests that especially long trip distances are shortened through relocation. While residents in urban areas travel on average shorter distances, both for working and grocery shopping, only the shopping distance decreases after a move to a more urban location. A preference for urban structures leads to an increase in urbanity after relocation only in the model for grocery shopping trips. Even though long trips before relocation lead to dissatisfaction with the commute, we do not observe a direct effect of dissatisfaction with trips or reasons for moving on trip distances after a move.