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Item Commuting to Palmerston North : an examination of some aspects of the journey to work in the Palmerston North urban area : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography at Massey University(Massey University, 1970) Bang, Bryan DesmondWhile this study could have been undertaken by another whose competence was in some other field, it is offered in the hope that the geographer's point of view may illuminate an area of knowledge about the Manawatu of which we were formerly ignorant. It is offered, too, in the hope of making a contribution, however meagre, to the literature which is available on the local area. At the outset of the study it was the intention to enumerate commuters in terms of origin areas, the sole destination considered being the Palmerston North Urban Area. The inflow of commuters to the major employment centre in the Manawatu was the main consideration but it was expected that commuting might shed some light upon the distribution of population in the district. It was felt that the existence of an urban hierarchy, formulated on the basis of population size and urban function might well be the result of forces operating both in the settlements and within the area as a whole. Changes within the hierarchy could then be viewed as resulting from alterations of the forces. It was considered that commuting, as it is currently operating, was having an effect upon the Manawatu hierarchy and that settlement patterns were possibly being stabilised or reinforced by the existence of commuting. In this way the examination of commuting as a phenomenon taking place within a changing hierarchy became an important aim and some attempt was made to equate changes in the hierarchy with commuting patterns.Item The effects of traffic congestion on Auckland commuters : an examination into the consequences and solutions of commuting stress for organizations : a thesis presented in a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 2002) McCombe, Iain KeithAuckland's roadways are choked for up to two and a half hours every morning as employees commute to their jobs. Car ownership figures reported for Auckland are high in international comparison, the number of private cars is rising faster than the population. A quasi experimental field study was conducted on 33 Auckland commuters, as a pilot, to assess the effects of traffic congestion on state stress and job performance, using the State Driver Stress Inventory and peer and self assessments. A direct link between traffic congestion and job performance has not been studied before, however previous research posits to a relationship between traffic congestion and task performance. This study expands on previous work by including average speed and number of obstacles in its definition of the independent variable impedance. It was found that commuting by any mode of transport is regarded as stressful for some individuals. Heavily impeded participants had poorer peer ratings of performance. The State Driver Stress Inventory, travel logs, and behaviour bases observation scales received further validation and were found to be appropriate for New Zealand samples. Ways of minimising the impact of traffic congestion on commuters in the region are suggested. Limitations of the study and projected future investigations are discussed.