IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v55y2017icp79-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does the demand response to transit fare increases vary by income?

Author

Listed:
  • Miller, Caroline
  • Savage, Ian

Abstract

Changes in ridership at individual stations on Chicago's mass-transit rail system following fare increases in 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2013 are analyzed to determine whether the ridership response varies with the per capita income in the neighborhood surrounding each station. We find mixed results. For one of the four fare changes the decline in ridership is greater in lower-income neighborhoods than it is in higher-income neighborhoods. However, the reverse is found for another fare increase. For two of the increases there is no relationship between income and ridership response. These mixed findings are in line with the prior literature that also found an inconsistent relationship. We hypothesize that there are two competing forces at work. On one hand lower-income groups are more constrained in their budget, but on the other hand they have fewer options for switching to other modes.

Suggested Citation

  • Miller, Caroline & Savage, Ian, 2017. "Does the demand response to transit fare increases vary by income?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 79-86.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:55:y:2017:i:c:p:79-86
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2017.01.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X16302852
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2017.01.006?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. Hensher, David A., 2008. "Assessing systematic sources of variation in public transport elasticities: Some comparative warnings," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(7), pages 1031-1042, August.
    2. Paulley, Neil & Balcombe, Richard & Mackett, Roger & Titheridge, Helena & Preston, John & Wardman, Mark & Shires, Jeremy & White, Peter, 2006. "The demand for public transport: The effects of fares, quality of service, income and car ownership," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 295-306, July.
    3. Nowak, William P. & Savage, Ian, 2013. "The cross elasticity between gasoline prices and transit use: Evidence from Chicago," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 38-45.
    4. Mark Wardman, 2014. "Price Elasticities of Surface Travel Demand A Meta-analysis of UK Evidence," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 48(3), pages 367-384, September.
    5. Holmgren, Johan, 2007. "Meta-analysis of public transport demand," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 1021-1035, December.
    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. Ha, Jaehyun & Lee, Sugie & Ko, Joonho, 2020. "Unraveling the impact of travel time, cost, and transit burdens on commute mode choice for different income and age groups," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 147-166.
    2. Guzman, Luis A. & Beltran, Carlos & Bonilla, Jorge & Gomez Cardona, Santiago, 2021. "BRT fare elasticities from smartcard data: Spatial and time-of-the-day differences," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 335-348.
    3. Asplund, Disa & Pyddoke, Roger, 2018. "Can increases in public transport supply be justified by concern for low-income individuals?," Working papers in Transport Economics 2018:7, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI), revised 30 Mar 2020.
    4. Davis, Lucas W., 2021. "Estimating the price elasticity of demand for subways: Evidence from Mexico," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Chen, Ruoyu & Zhou, Jiangping, 2022. "Fare adjustment’s impacts on travel patterns and farebox revenue: An empirical study based on longitudinal smartcard data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 111-133.
    6. Vigren, Andreas & Pyddoke, Roger, 2020. "The impact on bus ridership of passenger incentive contracts in public transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 144-159.
    7. Yadi Zhu & Feng Chen & Ming Li & Zijia Wang, 2018. "Inferring the Economic Attributes of Urban Rail Transit Passengers Based on Individual Mobility Using Multisource Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, November.
    8. Brakewood, Candace & Ziedan, Abubakr & Hendricks, Sara J. & Barbeau, Sean J. & Joslin, Ann, 2020. "An evaluation of the benefits of mobile fare payment technology from the user and operator perspectives," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 54-66.
    9. Ehab Diab & Jamie DeWeese & Nick Chaloux & Ahmed El-Geneidy, 2021. "Adjusting the service? Understanding the factors affecting bus ridership over time at the route level in Montréal, Canada," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2765-2786, October.
    10. Diab, Ehab & Kasraian, Dena & Miller, Eric J. & Shalaby, Amer, 2020. "The rise and fall of transit ridership across Canada: Understanding the determinants," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 101-112.
    11. Luis A. Guzman & Santiago Gomez & Carlos Alberto Moncada, 2020. "Short run fare elasticities for Bogotá’s BRT system: ridership responses to fare increases," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 2581-2599, October.

    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. Luis A. Guzman & Santiago Gomez & Carlos Alberto Moncada, 2020. "Short run fare elasticities for Bogotá’s BRT system: ridership responses to fare increases," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 2581-2599, October.
    2. Guzman, Luis A. & Beltran, Carlos & Bonilla, Jorge & Gomez Cardona, Santiago, 2021. "BRT fare elasticities from smartcard data: Spatial and time-of-the-day differences," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 335-348.
    3. Wardman, Mark & Toner, Jeremy & Fearnley, Nils & Flügel, Stefan & Killi, Marit, 2018. "Review and meta-analysis of inter-modal cross-elasticity evidence," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 662-681.
    4. Youzhi Zeng & Bin Ran & Ning Zhang & Xiaobao Yang, 2021. "Estimating the Price Elasticity of Train Travel Demand and Its Variation Rules and Application in Energy Used and CO 2 Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Zi-jia Wang & Feng Chen & Bo Wang & Jian-ling Huang, 2018. "Passengers’ response to transit fare change: an ex post appraisal using smart card data," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 1559-1578, September.
    6. Wang, Zi-jia & Li, Xiao-hong & Chen, Feng, 2015. "Impact evaluation of a mass transit fare change on demand and revenue utilizing smart card data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 213-224.
    7. Hintermann, Beat & Thommen, Christoph, 2022. "Price versus Commitment: Managing the Demand for Off-peak Train Tickets in a Field Experiment," Working papers 2022/05, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    8. Abe, Ryosuke & Kato, Hironori, 2017. "What led to the establishment of a rail-oriented city? Determinants of urban rail supply in Tokyo, Japan, 1950–2010," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 72-79.
    9. Thommen, Christoph & Hintermann, Beat, 2023. "Price versus Commitment: Managing the demand for off-peak train tickets in a field experiment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    10. Hörcher, Daniel & Tirachini, Alejandro, 2021. "A review of public transport economics," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    11. Sharaby, Nir & Shiftan, Yoram, 2012. "The impact of fare integration on travel behavior and transit ridership," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 63-70.
    12. Yaman, Firat & Offiaeli, Kingsley, 2022. "Is the price elasticity of demand asymmetric? Evidence from public transport demand," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 318-335.
    13. Wardman, Mark, 2022. "Meta-analysis of price elasticities of travel demand in great britain: Update and extension," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 1-18.
    14. repec:zbw:rwirep:0209 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Chica-Olmo, Jorge & Gachs-Sánchez, Héctor & Lizarraga, Carmen, 2018. "Route effect on the perception of public transport services quality," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 40-48.
    16. Drevs, Florian & Tscheulin, Dieter K. & Lindenmeier, Jörg & Renner, Simone, 2014. "Crowding-in or crowding out: An empirical analysis on the effect of subsidies on individual willingness-to-pay for public transportation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 250-261.
    17. Redman, Lauren & Friman, Margareta & Gärling, Tommy & Hartig, Terry, 2013. "Quality attributes of public transport that attract car users: A research review," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 119-127.
    18. Dujuan Yang & Harry Timmermans & Aloys Borgers, 2016. "The prevalence of context-dependent adjustment of activity-travel patterns in energy conservation strategies: results from a mixture-amount stated adaptation experiment," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 79-100, January.
    19. Li, Zheng & Hensher, David A. & Rose, John M., 2011. "Identifying sources of systematic variation in direct price elasticities from revealed preference studies of inter-city freight demand," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 727-734, September.
    20. T. M. Fullerton & A. G. Walke, 2013. "Public transportation demand in a border metropolitan economy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(27), pages 3922-3931, September.
    21. Frondel, Manuel & Vance, Colin, 2011. "Rarely enjoyed? A count data analysis of ridership in Germany's public transport," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 425-433, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Transit; Ridership; Fares; Income; Chicago;
    All these keywords.

    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:trapol:v:55:y:2017:i:c:p:79-86. 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/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    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.