spatial separation of work place and residential location. It was caused by a specific local
demand of the industry and service sector. Furthermore since the last world war the building
of homes in the outskirts of towns and the availability of mass transportation systems have
favoured the outlined process. A great part of the population now had the opportunity to settle
in the outskirts and to keep their workplace in the city (Paesler 1992: 76). The necessity to
commute was increased by housing shortages in the cities after the war as well as cheap land
outside the city, rising demands on the residential sphere and the unbroken demand of
industry for employees (Geipel 1954: 469). The explanations show that population and
workplace concentration through industrialisation have influenced modern commuter traffic
basically by growth of cities and improvements in transport technology (Boustedt 1970:
2284).
The origin of commuter traffic in rural areas is different compared to the cities and urban
regions. By daily walks to work, the agrarian population in rural regions had to always
overcome great distances to reach the scattered fields. Beginning in the middle of the 70s the
Farmland Consolidation Act made efforts to reduce this type of "agricultural" dependent
commuting.1
While in urban regions commuting was a result of urban sprawl, in the rural regions it was the
only way to prevent migration. Where agrarian income possibilities were low, the search for
supplementary income and a second occupation was particularly expanded into urban
regions.2 In this way new opportunities for earning money could be taken without having to
give up the smallholding, the social contacts or the cheap life-style in the country (Otto 1979:
28). After the war - in contrast to the cities - vast living space was available in the rural
regions. Gradually the development of these rural regions was improved with new
transportation opportunities. As a result the move towards rural areas from urban regions
increased. The necessity to commute became greater than before (Ott; Gerlinger 1992: 76).
The progress of decentralisation was not only limited to population but later also observed for
workplaces (Bade; Niebuhr 1999: 6). Subsequently the interconnection between rural regions
and cities intensified further. As a result the amount of outgoing commuting from rural
regions to urban regions rose (Bade; Spiekermann 2000: 78).
1.1. Spatial and individual influence on commuting behaviour
In numerous studies it is assumed that commuting is a result of the developed spatial division
of labor in industrialised societies. The process is based on spatial structure. This structure is
characterised by local conditions, the spatial demand of population and employment as well
as the technical and social infrastructure (Werner 1991: 47, Beckmann et al. 1998: 252).
In this context there are two main opinions: On one hand it is claimed that spatial
deconcentration through sub-urbanisation and dispersion processes has increased the travel-
to-work distances (Albers; Bahrenberg 1999: 3). On the other hand it is assumed that
progressive decentralisation of employment and infrastructure has led to a reduction of
commuting distances: Decentralisation of population results in the substitution of centre-
orientated connections through intra-peripheral commuting (Gordon; Richardson 1991: 419).
1 These are actions for reorganisation of rural land property according to improvement of production and working conditions.
These actions were often connected with the joining of split or uneconomically formed field parts.
2 This development was favoured by the rural tradition of the real division. It led to fragmentised and small agricultural
fields. This made it very difficult for farmers to make their living. So it was necessary to search for wider possibilities
beyond the rural regions to earn a living (Otto 1979: 27).