IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/54691.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How does Commuting Behavior Change Due to Incentives? An Empirical Study of the Beijing Subway System

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Zheng
  • Fujii, Hidemichi
  • Managi, Shunsuke

Abstract

This study examines the impact of incentives on commuters’ travel behavior based upon a questionnaire survey conducted on the Beijing Subway System. Overall, we find that giving incentives to commuters, especially fast food restaurant-related services and reduced ticket fares, has a positive influence on morning rush-hour avoidance. Furthermore, using interaction analysis, we discover that the flexible work time schedule has an impact on commuters’ behavior and the efficiency of the subway system. Finally, we recommend two possible policies to maximize the utility of the subway system and to reduce congestion at the peak of morning service: 1) a set of incentives including free wireless internet connection service with a coupon for breakfast and a discount on ticket fares before the morning peak, and 2) the introduction of a flexible work time schedule.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Zheng & Fujii, Hidemichi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2014. "How does Commuting Behavior Change Due to Incentives? An Empirical Study of the Beijing Subway System," MPRA Paper 54691, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:54691
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/54691/1/MPRA_paper_54691.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cox, Tom & Houdmont, Jonathan & Griffiths, Amanda, 2006. "Rail passenger crowding, stress, health and safety in Britain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 244-258, March.
    2. Brewer, Ann M., 1998. "Work design, flexible work arrangements and travel behaviour: policy implications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 93-101, April.
    3. Ben-Elia, Eran & Ettema, Dick, 2011. "Rewarding rush-hour avoidance: A study of commuters' travel behavior," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 567-582, August.
    4. Hollander, Yaron, 2006. "Direct versus indirect models for the effects of unreliability," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 699-711, November.
    5. Joseph C. Cooper, 2003. "A Joint Framework for Analysis of Agri-Environmental Payment Programs," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(4), pages 976-987.
    6. Saleh, Wafaa & Farrell, Séona, 2005. "Implications of congestion charging for departure time choice: Work and non-work schedule flexibility," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 39(7-9), pages 773-791.
    7. de Jong, Martin & Mu, Rui & Stead, Dominic & Ma, Yongchi & Xi, Bao, 2010. "Introducing public–private partnerships for metropolitan subways in China: what is the evidence?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 301-313.
    8. Belderbos, Rene & Carree, Martin & Diederen, Bert & Lokshin, Boris & Veugelers, Reinhilde, 2004. "Heterogeneity in R&D cooperation strategies," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1237-1263, November.
    9. Sangho Choo & Patricia Mokhtarian, 2008. "How do people respond to congestion mitigation policies? A multivariate probit model of the individual consideration of three travel-related strategy bundles," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 145-163, March.
    10. Allen, W. David, 2009. "Interview effects in the reporting of domestic violence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 288-300, March.
    11. Li, Zheng & Hensher, David A., 2011. "Crowding and public transport: A review of willingness to pay evidence and its relevance in project appraisal," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 880-887, November.
    12. Bates, John & Polak, John & Jones, Peter & Cook, Andrew, 0. "The valuation of reliability for personal travel," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 191-229, April.
    13. Lorenzo Cappellari & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2003. "Multivariate probit regression using simulated maximum likelihood," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(3), pages 278-294, September.
    14. Tang, Siman & Lo, Hong K., 2008. "The impact of public transport policy on the viability and sustainability of mass railway transit - The Hong Kong experience," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 563-576, May.
    15. Johansson, Robert C. & Kara, Erdal & Ribaudo, Marc, 2006. "On how environmental stringency influences BMP adoption," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21207, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    16. Chen, Cynthia & Chen, Jason & Barry, James, 2009. "Diurnal pattern of transit ridership: a case study of the New York City subway system," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 176-186.
    17. Voith, Richard, 1997. "Fares, Service Levels, and Demographics: What Determines Commuter Rail Ridership in the Long Run?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 176-197, March.
    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. Ghimire, Ramesh & Lancelin, Colby, 2019. "The relationship between financial incentives provided by employers and commuters' decision to use transit: Results from the Atlanta Regional Household Travel Survey," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 103-113.
    2. Jeremy Webb & Max Briggs & Clevo Wilson, 2018. "Breaking automotive modal lock-in: a choice modelling study of Jakarta commuters," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 20(1), pages 47-68, January.
    3. Menegaki, Angeliki, N. & Olsen, Søren Bøye & Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P., 2016. "Towards a common standard – A reporting checklist for web-based stated preference valuation surveys and a critique for mode surveys," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 18-50.
    4. Anupriya, & Graham, Daniel J. & Hörcher, Daniel & Anderson, Richard J. & Bansal, Prateek, 2020. "Quantifying the ex-post causal impact of differential pricing on commuter trip scheduling in Hong Kong," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 16-34.
    5. Palacios, Saúl, 2021. "Desplazamientos y autoempleo en Francia: diferencias por género [Commuting y self-employment in France: gender differences]," MPRA Paper 106555, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Wang, Yacan & Geng, Kexin & May, Anthony D. & Zhou, Huiyu, 2022. "The impact of traffic demand management policy mix on commuter travel choices," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 74-87.
    7. Anne Halvorsen & Haris N. Koutsopoulos & Zhenliang Ma & Jinhua Zhao, 2020. "Demand management of congested public transport systems: a conceptual framework and application using smart card data," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 2337-2365, October.
    8. Wang, Bing & Li, Shuai & Wang, Qi & Lin, Zhenhong, 2020. "Understanding travelers’ mobility decisions in response to customer incentives," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 113-120.
    9. Haiyan Zhu & Hongzhi Guan & Yan Han & Wanying Li, 2019. "A Study of Tourists’ Holiday Rush-Hour Avoidance Travel Behavior Considering Psychographic Segmentation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-20, July.
    10. An, Qinhe & Fu, Xiao & Huang, Di & Cheng, Qixiu & Liu, Zhiyuan, 2020. "Analysis of adding-runs strategy for peak-hour regular bus services," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    11. Jiechao Zhang & Xuedong Yan & Meiwu An & Li Sun, 2017. "The Impact of Beijing Subway’s New Fare Policy on Riders’ Attitude, Travel Pattern and Demand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-21, April.
    12. Haiyan Zhu & Hongzhi Guan & Yan Han & Wanying Li, 2020. "Can Road Toll Convince Car Travelers to Adjust Their Departure Times? Accounting for the Effect of Choice Behavior under Long and Short Holidays," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-29, December.
    13. Yen, Barbara T.H. & Mulley, Corinne & Meza, Gerardo, 2023. "Exploring the attitudes and perceptions influencing user participation in gamification schemes for TDM," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    14. Li, Changle & Ma, Jiao & Luan, Tom H. & Zhou, Xun & Xiong, Lei, 2018. "An incentive-based optimizing strategy of service frequency for an urban rail transit system," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 106-122.
    15. Shoval, Noam & Kahani, Alon & De Cantis, Stefano & Ferrante, Mauro, 2020. "Impact of incentives on tourist activity in space-time," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    16. Shubhendra Singh Parihar & Puneet Rai & Masood Siddiqui, 2021. "A Study of Commuter’s Shift Behaviour Towards New Age Convenient Transport Services," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 10(2), pages 172-180, June.
    17. Wang, Yu & Wang, Yacan & Ettema, Dick & Mao, Zidan & Charlton, Samuel G. & Zhou, Huiyu, 2020. "Commuter value perceptions in peak avoidance behavior: An empirical study in the Beijing subway system," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 70-84.
    18. Su, Duan & Wang, Yacan & Yang, Nan & Wang, Xianghong, 2020. "Promoting considerate parking behavior in dockless bike-sharing: An experimental study," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 153-165.
    19. Sun, Jian & Wu, Jiyan & Xiao, Feng & Tian, Ye & Xu, Xiangdong, 2020. "Managing bottleneck congestion with incentives," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 143-166.
    20. Ghafelebashi, Ali & Razaviyayn, Meisam & Dessouky, Maged, 2021. "Congestion Reduction via Personalized Incentives," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt5b82168n, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.

    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. Ke Liu & Zhenhong Qi & Li Tan & Caiyan Yang & Canwei Hu, 2023. "Mixed Use of Chemical Pesticides and Biopesticides among Rice–Crayfish Integrated System Farmers in China: A Multivariate Probit Approach," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Li, Baibing, 2019. "Measuring travel time reliability and risk: A nonparametric approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 152-171.
    3. Johansson, Robert C. & Kara, Erdal & Ribaudo, Marc, 2006. "On how environmental stringency influences BMP adoption," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21207, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    4. Tirachini, Alejandro & Sun, Lijun & Erath, Alexander & Chakirov, Artem, 2016. "Valuation of sitting and standing in metro trains using revealed preferences," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 94-104.
    5. Basu, Debasis & Hunt, John Douglas, 2012. "Valuing of attributes influencing the attractiveness of suburban train service in Mumbai city: A stated preference approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1465-1476.
    6. Li, Zheng & Hensher, David A., 2011. "Crowding and public transport: A review of willingness to pay evidence and its relevance in project appraisal," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 880-887, November.
    7. Carrion, Carlos & Levinson, David, 2012. "Value of travel time reliability: A review of current evidence," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 720-741.
    8. Fleming, Patrick, 2014. "A Model of Agricultural Land Use, Costs, and Water Quality in the Chesapeake Bay," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170373, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Matthieu Lapparent & Martin Koning, 2016. "Analyzing time sensitivity to discomfort in the Paris subway: an interval data model approach," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(5), pages 913-933, September.
    10. Sun, Lijun & Tirachini, Alejandro & Axhausen, Kay W. & Erath, Alexander & Lee, Der-Horng, 2014. "Models of bus boarding and alighting dynamics," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 447-460.
    11. Isabel Freitas & Tommy Clausen & Roberto Fontana & Bart Verspagen, 2011. "Formal and informal external linkages and firms’ innovative strategies. A cross-country comparison," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 91-119, February.
    12. Ji, Yanjie & Gao, Liangpeng & Chen, Dandan & Ma, Xinwei & Zhang, Ruochen, 2018. "How does a static measure influence passengers’ boarding behaviors and bus dwell time? Simulated evidence from Nanjing bus stations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 13-25.
    13. Menale Kassie & Precious Zikhali & Kebede Manjur & Sue Edwards, 2009. "Adoption of sustainable agriculture practices: Evidence from a semi‐arid region of Ethiopia," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(3), pages 189-198, August.
    14. Trinh, Thoai Quang & Rañola, Roberto F. & Camacho, Leni D. & Simelton, Elisabeth, 2018. "Determinants of farmers’ adaptation to climate change in agricultural production in the central region of Vietnam," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 224-231.
    15. Chang, Zheng & Phang, Sock-Yong, 2017. "Urban rail transit PPPs: Lessons from East Asian cities," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 106-122.
    16. Haywood, Luke & Koning, Martin, 2015. "The distribution of crowding costs in public transport: New evidence from Paris," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 182-201.
    17. Natacha Aveline-Dubach & Guillaume Blandeau, 2019. "The political economy of transit value capture: The changing business model of the MTRC in Hong Kong," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(16), pages 3415-3431, December.
    18. Dixit, Vinayak V. & Harb, Rami C. & Martínez-Correa, Jimmy & Rutström, Elisabet E., 2015. "Measuring risk aversion to guide transportation policy: Contexts, incentives, and respondents," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 15-34.
    19. Gómez, Jaime & Vargas, Pilar, 2012. "Intangible resources and technology adoption in manufacturing firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1607-1619.
    20. Fleming, Patrick & Lichtenberg, Erik & Newburn, David A., 2015. "Agricultural Cost Sharing and Conservation Practices for Nutrient Reduction in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205762, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Behavior; Incentives; Morning Peak; Commute; Beijing Subway System; Flexibility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R40 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - General
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:54691. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.