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Why do voters support public transportation? Public choices and private behavior

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  • Michael Manville
  • Benjamin Cummins

Abstract

We examine American support for transit spending, and particularly support for financing transit with local transportation sales taxes. We first show that support for transportation sales tax elections may be a poor proxy for transit support; many voters who support such taxes do not support increased transit spending, and many people who support transit spending do not support increased sales taxes to finance it. We then show that support for transit spending is correlated more with belief in its collective rather than private benefits—transit supporters are more likely to report broad concerns about traffic congestion and air pollution than to report wanting to use transit themselves. These findings suggest a collective action problem, since without riders transit cannot deliver collective benefits. But most transit spending supporters do not use transit, and demographics suggest they are unlikely to begin doing so; transit voters are wealthier and have more options than transit riders. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Manville & Benjamin Cummins, 2015. "Why do voters support public transportation? Public choices and private behavior," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 303-332, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:transp:v:42:y:2015:i:2:p:303-332
    DOI: 10.1007/s11116-014-9545-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Xize & Rodríguez, Daniel A. & Mahendra, Anjali, 2021. "Support for market-based and command-and-control congestion relief policies in Latin American cities: Effects of mobility, environmental health, and city-level factors," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 91-108.
    2. Manville, Michael & Levine, Adam Seth, 2018. "What motivates public support for public transit?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 567-580.
    3. Kim, Jae Hong & Li, Xiangyu, 2021. "Building more housing near transit: A spatial analysis of residential densification dynamics," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 15-24.
    4. Qing Shen & Yiyuan Wang & Casey Gifford, 2021. "Exploring partnership between transit agency and shared mobility company: an incentive program for app-based carpooling," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2585-2603, October.
    5. Mouter, Niek & Chorus, Caspar, 2016. "Value of time – A citizen perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 317-329.
    6. Christiansen, Petter, 2020. "The effects of transportation priority congruence for political legitimacy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 61-76.
    7. Michael Manville & Brian D. Taylor & Evelyn Blumenberg & Andrew Schouten, 2023. "Vehicle access and falling transit ridership: evidence from Southern California," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 303-329, February.
    8. Adam Millard-Ball & Purva Kapshikar, 2024. "How land use patterns keep driving cheap: Geographic support for transportation taxes," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(7), pages 1345-1370, May.
    9. Albrecht, Maxwell & Brown, Anne & Lederman, Jaimee & Taylor, Brian D. & Wachs, Martin, 2017. "The Equity Challenges and Outcomes of California County Transportation Sales Tax," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt39q2758w, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    10. Anne Brown & Jaimee Lederman & Brian D. Taylor & Martin Wachs, 2021. "Analyzing voter support for California’s local option sales taxes for transportation," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 2103-2125, August.
    11. King, David A. & Fischer, Lauren Ames, 2016. "Streetcar projects as spatial planning: A shift in transport planning in the United States," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 383-390.

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