Polycentric Employment Growth and the Commuting Behaviour in Benin Metropolitan Region, Nigeria

The paper investigates the emerging pattern of journey to work traffic that characterises the employment centres of a fast growing African city with reference to the case of Benin region, Nigeria. This is achieved by identifying and extracting the significant employment centres of the region. On the one hand, factor analysis and Getis-Ord statistic were systematically used to identify the spatial configuration of the region’s employment. Regression models on the other hand, were used to estimate the relationship that exists between job decentralisation and travel behaviour. Factor analysis and Getis-Ord statistic identified four significant employment clusters in the region. Multivariate and bivariate regression models were further used to explore the dynamics of commuting behaviour in response to decentralisation of employment centres. It is found that employment spatial structure exerts significant influence on all dimensions of commuting pattern of the region. The result shows that decentralisation of jobs in the metropolis has led to a reduction in commuting times, travel distance and significantly influence the modal choice of commuters.