Many studies on urban work trips in Nigeria have focused on major urban centres like Lagos, Kano and
Ibadan which are the main commercial and industrial centres. Studies of urban spatial structure and
work trips patterns in medium sized cities and towns like Akure, Ilesa, Ondo and Osogbo in SouthWestern
Nigeria have received little or no attention. The fewness of these studies has made it difficult to
have access to adequate and appropriate information and data base for any effective and meaningful
planning for urban mobility patterns in this category of cities in Nigeria. This study examines the
structure of urban work trips in a traditional but economically, socially and politically dynamic Yoruba
town of Ilesa which is the most important town in Ijesa Region in Osun State. A systematic random
sampling procedure was employed to administer 1,365 questionnaires (2.5? of the total heads of
households in the city) heads of selected households spread across eleven traffic analysis zones.
Using descriptive and cartographic techniques with Arc view 3.2, geographical information system
(GIS) software, the spatial structure of work trips pattern, origins and destinations of urban residents in
Ilesa were clearly discerned. The study concludes that a greater spread of socio-economic facilities
would not only enhance accessibility but also reduce the pressure on main transport arteries in the
metropolis. It is suggested that a renewal of physical planning of Ilesa and cities of similar sizes in
Nigeria would facilitate increase in the mobility of the city dwellers