Increased ridership and improved affordability: Transforming public transport subsidies in developing contexts

Luis A. Guzman, Santiago Gómez Cardona and Jorge Luis Ochoa

Research in Transportation Economics, 2024, vol. 108, issue C

Abstract: In Latin American cities, the affordability of public transport presents a significant obstacle to mobility. To address this challenge, several cities have implemented subsidies. Understanding the effectiveness of these subsidies is crucial, particularly in cities where a substantial portion of the population, especially those with low incomes, rely on public transport systems. This paper presents a case study conducted in Bogotá, Colombia, employing a randomized controlled field experiment involving 1607 participants. In this intervention, a randomly selected group of frequent public transport users received a cash transfer on their travel cards (a transport voucher) for four months. We aim to estimate the causal effects of providing these vouchers on ridership and affordability. The findings indicate that vouchers on average, increased ridership by up to 9% compared to the control group. This increase was most pronounced on weekdays and during peak hours. Vouchers proved particularly advantageous for populations with low fare-demand elasticity, who constitute the primary users of public transport. Furthermore, it improved their affordability by between 18 and 26%. In summary, our results indicate that providing subsidies in the form of vouchers can effectively boost public transport usage, thereby enhancing affordability for users.

Keywords: Public transport; RCT; Public transport pricing; Travel voucher; Bogotá (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H24 R41 R48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885924000878
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:retrec:v:108:y:2024:i:c:s0739885924000878

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_2&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2024.101492

Access Statistics for this article

Research in Transportation Economics is currently edited by M. Dresner

More articles in Research in Transportation Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().