Predicting Rail Transit Impacts with Endogenous Worker Choice: Evidence from Oahu

Justin Tyndall

No 24-409, Upjohn Working Papers from W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Abstract: The provision of public transportation can improve the accessibility of work opportunities. However, predicting the labor market effects of new transit infrastructure is difficult because of endogenous worker decisions. I examine a large public-transit rail project on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Using block-level commuter-flow and travel-time estimates, I propose and estimate a quantitative spatial model of location and mode choice for workers. I estimate that the new rail system increases public-transit-mode share and the employment rate but does not reduce the average commute duration, because of endogenous worker sorting. Low-income workers on Oahu capture a significant share of transit’s direct benefits because of their relative preference for both transit and the neighborhoods served by rail.

Keywords: transportation; transit; residential choice; neighborhood change; spatial mismatch (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J20 J60 R13 R23 R40 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm, nep-lab, nep-tre and nep-ure
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