- Travel to Work Area
A Travel to Work Area or TTWA is a statistical tool used by
UK Government agencies andlocal authorities , especially by theDepartment for Work and Pensions andJob Centres , to indicate an area where thepopulation would generallycommute to a largertown ,city orconurbation for the purposes ofemployment .As a measure based on urban areas and their
commuter hinterland they are a form ofMetropolitan Area , though as methods of calculation differ they cannot directly be compared with other specific measurements such asMetropolitan Statistical Area s in theUnited States .TTWAs have no
legal status . However, they give planners andgeographer s an alternate view of urban life as their boundaries are tied not to arbitraryadministrative limits butsocio-economic ties. Having an idea of where people commute from for work is particularly useful forpublic transport planning.Definition
Travel to Work Areas are defined by the
Office for National Statistics using census data for commuting between wards, based on the different locations of individuals' home and work addresses.A Travel to Work Area is a collection of wards for which "of the resident economically active population, at least 75% actually work in the area, and also, that of everyone working in the area, at least 75% actually live in the area". According to this measure, there were 308 TTWAs within the United Kingdom in 1998. [ [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/ttwa.asp Beginners' guide to UK geography - Travel to Work Areas (TTWAs)] Office for National Statistics]
The "State of the Cities"
Travel to Work Areas were selected to approximate
city region s as one of the main units of comparison used by the "State of the English Cities " report and database, commissioned and maintained by theCommunities and Local Government department of the UK Government. [Robinson, Phillipa " [http://www.nerip.com/neripfiles/newsletter/issue14/SOCD.ppt#6 And city regions......] ", State of the Cities Database, Presentation to North East Regional Information Partnership]This has greatly increased the amount of information available about Travel to Work Areas, although the "State of the Cities" only publishes data for the 56 Travel to Work Areas based around
Primary Urban Area s inEngland . Travel to Work Areas inScotland andWales and those covering only rural areas are not included. [ [http://www.socd.communities.gov.uk/socd/overview.aspx#56TTWAs - State of the Cities - Making sense of cities - Travel to work areas (TTWAs)] Department for Communities and Local Government]To increase the range of statistics available the "State of the Cities" also publishes data for Travel to Work Areas approximated to local authority boundaries. These areas can differ considerably from the more accurate ward-based areas. [Robinson, Phillipa " [http://www.nerip.com/neripfiles/newsletter/issue14/SOCD.ppt#9 Presenting Statistics on UK Geographies] ", State of the Cities Database, Presentation to North East Regional Information Partnership]
ee also
*
Primary Urban Area External links
* [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/ttwa.asp Office of National Statistics]
* [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/downloads/gbttwa.pdf Map of UK TTWAs]
* [http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/business/Economic/Travel_To_Work_Area.asp A Local Government website page]
* [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/ASHE_1997/1997_ttwa_wb.pdf UK 1997 Census tables using TTWAs]References
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