Residential Self Selection and Rail Commuting: A Nested Logit Analysis

Robert Cervero and Michael Duncan

University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers from University of California Transportation Center

Abstract: Past studies show that those living near train stations tend to rail-commute far more often than the typical resident of rail-served cities. Some contend this is largely due to self-selection, marked by those with an affinity to transit riding consciously moving into neighborhoods that are well-served by transit. This article explores the self-selection question by constructing a nested logit model that jointly estimates the probability someone will reside near a rail stop and in turn commute by rail transit, using year-2000 travel data from the San Francisco Bay Area. A multinomial logit model is also used to predict car ownership levels. The research reveals that residential location and commute choice are jointly related decisions among station-area residents. A comparison of odds ratios among those living near and away from transit, controlling for the influences of other factors, suggests that residential self-selection accounts for approximately 40 percent of the rail-commute decision. These findings suggest that supportive zoning should be introduced and barriers to residential mobility should be eliminated to allow the self-selection process to occur naturally through the marketplace.

Keywords: Social; and; Behavioral; Sciences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002-12-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1wg020cd.pdf;origin=repeccitec (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt1wg020cd

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers from University of California Transportation Center Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Lisa Schiff ().