IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/regeco/v96y2022ics0166046222000436.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimental evidence on the effects of means-tested public transportation subsidies on travel behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Brough, Rebecca
  • Freedman, Matthew
  • Phillips, David C.

Abstract

Means-tested reduced transit fare programs are increasingly prevalent. This paper describes the results of a unique experiment in which a randomly selected group of low-income individuals in King County, Washington received up to six months of free public transportation. We leverage the experiment to explore how public transit's cost affects mobility. Using administrative data tracking transit card taps on King County's fleet of vehicles, we find that free fares sharply increase transit card use. Follow-up surveys corroborate an increase in travel by public transportation, but also indicate that some of the treatment effect on transit card use is driven by payment method substitution. Treatment effects on overall travel by any mode are less clear. Finally, we find little persistent impact of free fares on transit card use after the subsidy ends.

Suggested Citation

  • Brough, Rebecca & Freedman, Matthew & Phillips, David C., 2022. "Experimental evidence on the effects of means-tested public transportation subsidies on travel behavior," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:96:y:2022:i:c:s0166046222000436
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2022.103803
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166046222000436
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2022.103803?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Girum Abebe & A Stefano Caria & Marcel Fafchamps & Paolo Falco & Simon Franklin & Simon Quinn, 2021. "Anonymity or Distance? Job Search and Labour Market Exclusion in a Growing African City [Endogenous Stratification in Randomized Experiments]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(3), pages 1279-1310.
    2. Ian W. H. Parry & Kenneth A. Small, 2009. "Should Urban Transit Subsidies Be Reduced?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 700-724, June.
    3. Shaun Larcom & Ferdinand Rauch & Tim Willems, 2017. "The Benefits of Forced Experimentation: Striking Evidence from the London Underground Network," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 2019-2055.
    4. Fujita,Masahisa, 1991. "Urban Economic Theory," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521396455.
    5. Leonardo J. Basso & Hugo E. Silva, 2014. "Efficiency and Substitutability of Transit Subsidies and Other Urban Transport Policies," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 1-33, November.
    6. Bull, Owen & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Silva, Hugo E., 2021. "The impact of fare-free public transport on travel behavior: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Rebecca Brough & Matthew Freedman & David C. Phillips, 2021. "Understanding socioeconomic disparities in travel behavior during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 753-774, September.
    8. Simon Franklin, 2018. "Location, Search Costs and Youth Unemployment: Experimental Evidence from Transport Subsidies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(614), pages 2353-2379, September.
    9. Metcalfe, Robert & Dolan, Paul, 2012. "Behavioural economics and its implications for transport," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 503-511.
    10. Gharad Bryan & Shyamal Chowdhury & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, 2014. "Underinvestment in a Profitable Technology: The Case of Seasonal Migration in Bangladesh," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(5), pages 1671-1748, September.
    11. Oded Cats & Yusak O. Susilo & Triin Reimal, 2017. "The prospects of fare-free public transport: evidence from Tallinn," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(5), pages 1083-1104, September.
    12. Taylor, Brian D & Garrett, Mark, 1999. "Reconsidering Social Equity in Public Transit," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt2bm7b38n, University of California Transportation Center.
    13. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E. & Rappaport, Jordan, 2008. "Why do the poor live in cities The role of public transportation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-24, January.
    14. Harry J. Holzer & John M. Quigley & Steven Raphael, 2003. "Public transit and the spatial distribution of minority employment: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(3), pages 415-441.
    15. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
    16. John F. Kain, 1968. "Housing Segregation, Negro Employment, and Metropolitan Decentralization," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 82(2), pages 175-197.
    17. Ariella S. Kristal & Ashley V. Whillans, 2020. "What we can learn from five naturalistic field experiments that failed to shift commuter behaviour," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(2), pages 169-176, February.
    18. Davis, Lucas W., 2021. "Estimating the price elasticity of demand for subways: Evidence from Mexico," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    19. Brough, Rebecca & Freedman, Matthew & Ho, Daniel E. & Phillips, David C., 2022. "Can transportation subsidies reduce failures to appear in criminal court? Evidence from a pilot randomized controlled trial," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    20. Phillips, David C., 2014. "Getting to work: Experimental evidence on job search and transportation costs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 72-82.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brough, Rebecca & Freedman, Matthew & Ho, Daniel E. & Phillips, David C., 2022. "Can transportation subsidies reduce failures to appear in criminal court? Evidence from a pilot randomized controlled trial," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bull, Owen & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Silva, Hugo E., 2021. "The impact of fare-free public transport on travel behavior: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Davis, Lucas W., 2021. "Estimating the price elasticity of demand for subways: Evidence from Mexico," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Agrawal, David R. & Zhao, Weihua, 2023. "Taxing Uber," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    4. Aamer Abu‐Qarn & Shirlee Lichtman‐Sadot, 2022. "The Trade‐Off Between Work and Education: Evidence from Public Transportation Penetration to Arab Towns in Israel," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(1), pages 193-225, January.
    5. Owen Bulla & Juan Carlos Muñoz & Hugo Silva, 2019. "The impact of fare-free public transport on travel behavior: evidence," Documentos de Trabajo 531, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    6. Yanez-Pagans, Patricia & Martinez, Daniel & Mitnik, Oscar A. & Scholl, Lynn & Vazquez, Antonia, 2018. "Urban Transport Systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: Challenges and Lessons Learned," IZA Discussion Papers 11812, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Abu-Qarn, Aamer & Lichtman-Sadot, Shirlee, 2019. "Connecting Disadvantaged Communities to Work and Higher Education Opportunities: Evidence from Public Transportation Penetration to Arab Towns in Israel," IZA Discussion Papers 12824, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Gautier, Pieter A. & Zenou, Yves, 2010. "Car ownership and the labor market of ethnic minorities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 392-403, May.
    9. Börjesson, Maria & Eliasson, Jonas & Rubensson, Isak, 2020. "Distributional effects of public transport subsidies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    10. Nicolas Juste & Moez Kilani, 2022. "Modeling the impact of transportation on urban segregation and unemployment [Modélisation de l'impact des transports sur la ségrégation urbaine et le chômage]," Post-Print hal-03738609, HAL.
    11. Patricia Yañez-Pagans & Daniel Martinez & Oscar A. Mitnik & Lynn Scholl & Antonia Vazquez, 2019. "Urban transport systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: lessons and challenges," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 28(1), pages 1-25, December.
    12. Baumgart, Eike & Blaufus, Kay & Hechtner, Frank, 2023. "The tax treatment of commuting expenses and job-related mobility," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 280, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    13. Avner,Paolo & Mehndiratta,Shomik Raj & Viguie,Vincent & Hallegatte,Stephane & Avner,Paolo & Mehndiratta,Shomik Raj & Viguie,Vincent & Hallegatte,Stephane, 2017. "Buses, houses or cash ? socio-economic, spatial and environmental consequences of reforming public transport subsidies in Buenos Aires," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8166, The World Bank.
    14. Andor, Mark Andreas & Dehos, Fabian & Gillingham, Kenneth & Hansteen, Sven & Tomberg, Lukas, 2023. "Public transport pricing: An evaluation of the 9-Euro Ticket and an alternative policy proposal," Ruhr Economic Papers 1045, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Christensen, Peter & Osman, Adam, 2021. "The Demand for Mobility: Evidence from an Experiment with Uber Riders," IZA Discussion Papers 14179, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Hu, Lingqian & Schneider, Robert J., 2017. "Different ways to get to the same workplace: How does workplace location relate to commuting by different income groups?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 106-115.
    17. Shin, Eun Jin, 2021. "Exploring the causal impact of transit fare exemptions on older adults’ travel behavior: Evidence from the Seoul metropolitan area," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 319-338.
    18. Marko Kryvobokov & Louafi Bouzouina, 2014. "Willingness to pay for accessibility under the conditions of residential segregation," Post-Print halshs-01082820, HAL.
    19. Allister Loder & Fabienne Cantner & Lennart Adenaw & Nico Nachtigall & David Ziegler & Felix Gotzler & Markus B. Siewert & Stefan Wurster & Sebastian Goerg & Markus Lienkamp & Klaus Bogenberger, 2023. "Germany's nationwide travel experiment in 2022: public transport for 9 Euro per month -- First findings of an empirical study," Papers 2306.08297, arXiv.org.
    20. Zenou, Yves, 2009. "Urban search models under high-relocation costs. Theory and application to spatial mismatch," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 534-546, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public transportation; Transit subsidies; Reduced fares; Habit formation; Randomized controlled trial;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics
    • R5 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:96:y:2022:i:c:s0166046222000436. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/regec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.