Mode Choice and the Effects of Rapid Transit Improvements on Private Vehicle Use and Urban Development

Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy and James Allan Jones

No 11, Working Papers from University of Auckland, Economic Policy Center (EPC)

Abstract: Why do improvements in public transit sometimes result in an increase in private vehicle use, and sometimes result in a decrease? To better understand the underlying mechanisms, we study the impact of improvements in rapid transit (RT) within a monocentric model of the city that features congestion in commuting modes. Commuters choose between two different modes: public RT or private vehicles. While RT improvements increase city size, population, and aggregate land values, their effect on private vehicle use is ambiguous and depends on the extent of road congestion. Vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) can increase after an RT improvement when the private road network is sufficiently congested. Policies to reduce road use in congested cities by improving RT should therefore be paired with additional disincentives to the use of private transportation.

Keywords: Congestion; Mode Choice; Rapid Transit; Public Transport; Commuting Costs; Agglomeration Effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R12 R15 R41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-10
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cyc:wpaper:011

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