Regional Formation and Development Studies

In the last ten years the evident changes of settlement patterns through suburban growth near to capital city of Latvia occurred. Increase of distance between home and routine activity places as well as changes of public transport and rapid increase of car ownership initiated significant changes in commuting patterns of inhabitants living outside of Riga. Although the commuting from suburban area to Riga is recently broadly studied, however these researches focused primarily on able-bodied population leaving behind school-age children and young people. The aim of this study is to analyse commuting patterns of young people aged 12 to 17 moving from outskirts of Riga to school located in Riga. This study reveal commuting patterns in Riga agglomeration through wide analysis of spatial patterns of youth commuting, examination of motives and factors affecting transportation mode choice for school trips and commuting times. Findings of the research show existing correlation between location of young people’s place of residence in terms of distance from core city and proportion of them commuting to Riga. Likewise several socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics of young people have influence on school trip transportation mode choice.