Scaling Relationship between Traffic Congestion versus Population Size of 164 Global Cities

Abstract

One of the important unresolved questions on the analysis of urban traffic congestion deals with urban congestion penalty versus advantage. This research with examine whether larger cities experience disproportionately greater traffic congestion by using data available from Tom Tom for 164 global cities. Results from a panel data of multivariate regression from 164 cities indicate that larger cities do experience moderately greater congestions level, supporting urban congestion penalty. However, the degree of congestion penalty increases rapidly, as the population size of cities in subgroups increase. Implications from these findings will be discussed.

Keywords: Urban congestion penalty, Urban congestion advantage, Tom Tom Traffic Index, Population coefficient, Scaling analysis

JEL Classification: Q53