Göteborgs pendlingsomland. En studie om hur restid och reseavstånd korrelerar med pendling och befolkninsförändring i Västra Götalands och Hallands Län
The daily travel, and especially travel between home and work i.e. commuting, is increasing every passing year. More than 90 000 people commute from their home municipality to work in Gothenburg. One of the aims of the regions of Västra Götaland and Halland is to interconnect municipalities and towns within the region, thereby creating growth, faster freight and passenger transports as well as a more attractive business climate. However, while the goal is to create growth, there are several municipalities in the study region with negative ongoing trends. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to examine whether the factors of travel time and travel distance correlates with commuting to Gothenburg as well as population trends within the region. The study is primarily based on statistical data from Statistics Sweden (SCB) and a population and housing census (FoB) also published by Statistics Sweden.The result of the study shows a strong correlation between travel distance/travel time and population growth and commuting. There is a substantial increase in population in the municipalities closest to Gothenburg, whereas several municipalities in the periphery of the region have decrease in population. The number of commuters to Gothenburg is also highest in the municipalities closest to Gothenburg.However, the changes in the study area cannot solely be explained by general conclusions. Each municipality is affected by various factors such as geographic location, the size of the population, business climate, etc. Nevertheless, the specific cases of Tjörn, Mark and Gullspång can illustrate how changes may develop in different directions.