Commuting in the cities of the RSFSR according to the 1970 All-Union population census: scale, flows, structure

The article considers the commuting patterns in the cities of the RSFSR according to the materials of the 1970 All-Union population census (the scale of commuting, its flows and structure). The 1970 census was the only Soviet census which program included a selective study of commuting. Commuting patterns defined as daily trips of workers and employees, as well as students of secondary and higher educational institutions between places of residence and places of their work/study, were studied in 96 cities of the USSR and their suburban areas. In the CSA of the USSR fund, located in the Russian State Archive of Economics, there are work sheets of 95 cities. Among these, the cities of the Russian Federation (RSFSR) represent a third, or 30 forms, which are the source of current research. Russian cities included in the CSA sample were situated in all economic districts of the country with the exception of the Far East. The Center district was represented almost entirely (9 out of its 13 regions and 12 cities), as well as the Volga-Vyatka district (4 out of its 5 regions and 5 cities). The presence of the remaining districts was noticeably smaller and did not exceed 4 regions for each. Based on the methodology proposed by B.S. Khorev, T.K. Smolina and N.G. Sominskaya, according to the commuting patterns, most of the cities were classified into three types: 1) the type of «working» city, which was characterized by the greatest size of direct migration (trips to places of work/study in the city); 2) the type of «exchange» city, distinguished for a significant intensity of commuting with a more balanced ratio of places of work/study and places of residence; 3) the type of «isolated» city, characterized by the smallest scale of commuting. The census materials also demonstrate that although the dominant direction of commuting was the one from the suburb to the city, there was also a reverse migration. The total indicator of share of the oncoming traffic to the suburban area compared with the incoming one was almost 15%. The census provided complete data on the time commuters spent on their trips. According to it, the average time spent on inter-settlement trips significantly exceeded the time spent on intracity ones. For commuters arriving in the city, this difference was 1.4-2 times for arithmetic and median rates, for modal rate it reached 2.3 times. Bus and rail transport were the main modes of transport between settlements. In «suburb - city» direction they accounted for an average of 76.2% of the total passenger traffic, and in «city - suburb» - 69.5%. The next place in inter-settlement trips belonged to the electric transport, carrying up to 30% of migrants. In the structure of intracity trips the latter, on the contrary, played a leading role, providing the needs from 45 to 67% of all passengers. To sum up, commuting was widespread in the early 1970s. In many cases it constituted a preparatory stage for the subsequent irretrievable migration to the city, being one of the mechanisms of urbanization. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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