Transit effects on poverty, employment, and rent in Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Obed Pasha, Chris Wyczalkowski, Dro Sohrabian and Iryna Lendel

Transport Policy, 2020, vol. 88, issue C, 33-41

Abstract: Local mass transportation systems are significant public infrastructure investments that constitute an essential policy and planning tool for urban areas. Previous research suggests a heterogeneous effect by city, but when the expansion of public transit systems results in increased housing costs, it potentially leads to a displacement of low-income groups. While there is an expanding literature on the effects of public transit on low-income populations, surprisingly, the research mainly focuses on the effects of rail stations and bus rapid transit, while ignoring the effects of buses, despite their higher prevalence and use by low-income households. This paper fills this gap with an accessibility measure that exploits the annual variation in transit (bus and rail) service frequency and analyzes its effect longitudinally on poverty, employment, and rental values in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, using data from the General Transit Feed Specification, American Community Survey, and Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics. The study finds that transit service provides job accessibility without increasing rental values, thus reducing the probability of displacement for low-income groups. The findings support a policy of increasing bus frequency and route density as a low-cost way to help low-income households gain employment and increase wages without affecting rents and values in the short-term.

Keywords: Local transit service; Employment; Poverty; Rental values (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X19306973
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:trapol:v:88:y:2020:i:c:p:33-41

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.01.013

Access Statistics for this article

Transport Policy is currently edited by Y. Hayashi

More articles in Transport Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().