Further We Travel the Faster We Go

Levente Varga; András Kovács; Géza Tóth; István Papp; Zoltán Néda

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148913

Further We Travel the Faster We Go

PLoS One. 2016 Feb 10;11(2):e0148913. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148913. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Levente Varga¹, András Kovács², Géza Tóth³, István Papp¹, Zoltán Néda¹

Affiliations

¹ Babeş-Bolyai University, Department of Physics, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
² Edutus College, Department of Trade and Marketing, Tatabánya, Hungary.
³ Hungarian Central Statistical Office, Budapest, Hungary.

Abstract

The average travelling speed increases in a nontrivial manner with the travel distance. This leads to scaling-like relations on quite extended spatial scales, for all mobility modes taken together and also for a given mobility mode in part. We offer a wide range of experimental results, investigating and quantifying this universal effect and its measurable causes. The increasing travelling speed with the travel distance arises from the combined effects of: choosing the most appropriate travelling mode; the structure of the travel networks; the travel times lost in the main hubs, starting or target cities; and the speed limit of roads and vehicles.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Decision Making
Geographic Information Systems
Humans
Hungary
Mathematical Concepts
Models, Theoretical
Time Factors
Transportation / methods
Travel* / psychology
United States

Grants and funding

This work was supported by UEFISCDI, Romania, grant number: PCE-IDEI-0348/2011. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.