Asymmetric Gasoline Price Effects on Public Transit Ridership: Evidence from U.S. Cities
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
2022
Subject Area
place - north america, operations - service span, operations - frequency, ridership - elasticity
Keywords
Cities, Gasoline price, Public transit, Ridership
Abstract
Using a nonlinear autoregressive distributive lag framework, the paper examines the dynamic effects of gasoline price, gasoline price volatility, income, and transit service coverage and frequency on public transit ridership in six U.S. cities (New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, and Cleveland). The results indicate that, in the long run, rising gasoline prices increase transit ridership in all cities. More importantly, transit riders react differently, depending on the direction of gasoline price movements. The variable corresponding to price increases is found to have a larger elasticity than that for price decreases in five out of six cases, supporting gasoline price asymmetry. In Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, and Cleveland, a small but statistically significant long-run effect of gasoline price volatility on transit ridership was found, suggesting that gasoline price uncertainty is an important factor affecting transit ridership in these cities. In the short run, transit service coverage is found to be the key determinant of transit ridership, implying that expanding transit service coverage can boost public transit ridership in the short term.
Rights
Permission to publish the abstract has been given by SAGE, copyright remains with them.
Recommended Citation
Chi, J. (2022). Asymmetric Gasoline Price Effects on Public Transit Ridership: Evidence from U.S. Cities. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Vol. 2676(5), pp. 643-659.
