Page 158 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Beckerich, Christophe. Benoit, Sylvie. Delaplace, Marie.

Table 9. Frequency of work‐related travel by HSR by job type
14

Bezannes Clairmarais

Frequency of
work‐related travel Director Manager Employée Total Director Manager Employée Total

1 to 5 times per week 2 2 2 6 10 2 5 17

1 to 5 times per month 6 4 5 15 4 2 2 8

Less than once per month 4 1 3 8 4 0 7 11

Total 12 7 10 29 18 4 14 36

Source: authors’ own work.

This frequency of use is relatively equally split between directors, managers and employees. In
Clairmarais, the use of HSR is more common (one or more times a week in general) and is most
frequent for directors of smaller firms in the tertiary sector. In Bezannes, personnel working
in construction, manufacturing and extractive industries, and information and communication
activities are the most frequent users of the HSR service.

5. Conclusion

The case of Reims allows us to revisit the issue of firms’ location choices with regard to HSR
stations, by analysing two types of station: a peripheral station and a central station. Both of
these stations have been served by HSR services for the same amount of time, since 2007, but
the respective changes in accessibility have varied. The central station is the station with the
best accessibility to Paris by HST and to the other towns in the former Champagne‐Ardenne
region. While ChampagneArdenne station is less well served by trains to and from Paris, the
station has the advantage of being directly connected to the high‐speed rail network.

The arrival of HSR is the main reason for the creation of a business district and business parks
in Reims. It triggered the freeing‐up of land around the central station, where offices have now
been built. The arrival of HSR also led to the creation of the deferred‐development area in
Bezannes, close to Champagne‐Ardenne station. In both cases, it was local companies that first
chose to locate there. These “early adopters” had an insurance effect, encouraging companies
from outside Reims to move in, but outside firms remain a minority.

14 For the frequency of work‐related travel for all jobs and both areas, the null hypothesis H0 (that there is no difference
between the distribution) must be rejected. The calculated p‐value with Fisher’s exact test (0.028) is less than the level of
confidence α = 0.05; the alternative hypothesis H1 (that there is a difference between the distributions) can be accepted.
For the frequency of work‐related travel for directors and both areas, the null hypothesis H0 (that there is no difference between
the distribution) can be accepted. The calculated p‐value with Fisher’s exact test (0.112) is greater than the level of confidence α
= 0.05. For the frequency of work‐related travel for managers and both areas, the null hypothesis H0 (that there is no difference
between the distribution) can be accepted. The calculated p‐value with Fisher’s exact test (1) is greater than the level of
confidence α = 0.05. For the frequency of work‐related travel for employees and both areas, the null hypothesis H0 (that there is
no difference between the distribution) can be accepted. The calculated p‐value with Fisher’s exact test (0.234) is greater than
the level of confidence α = 0.05.

156 360.revista de alta velocidad