An empirical evaluation of the impact of three urban transportation policies on transit use

The impact on transportation mode choice of policies implementing metro network expansion, fare subsidies and automobile use and ownership regulation was evaluated econometrically using data for 41 world cities. Controlling socioeconomic and demographic variables, it was found that an increase in metro network extension of 10% generates an average decrease in automobile use of 2%. The results also showed that regulation of automobile use or ownership leads to a significant rise in public transit use. By contrast, no evidence was discovered suggesting that transit fare subsidies produce significant increases in transit ridership.

► 10% extension of a city rail network increases transit use by 3% and decrease automobile use by 2%. ► In cities with effective automobile regulation, the use of cars has dropped from 20% to 30%. ► We found no evidence that fare subsidies encourage the use of transit.