The congestion relief benefit of public transit: evidence from Rome

Abstract We estimate the effect of public transport supply on travel times of motor-vehicle and bus users in Rome, Italy. We apply a quasi-experimental methodology exploiting hourly information on public transport service reductions during strikes. We find that a 10-percentage point reduction in pub...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of economic geography 2021-05, Vol.21 (3), p.397-431
Main Authors: Adler, Martin W, Liberini, Federica, Russo, Antonio, Ommeren, Jos N. van
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Abstract We estimate the effect of public transport supply on travel times of motor-vehicle and bus users in Rome, Italy. We apply a quasi-experimental methodology exploiting hourly information on public transport service reductions during strikes. We find that a 10-percentage point reduction in public transit supply increases the travel time of motor-vehicles by about 1.6% in the morning peak. The effect on bus travel time is similar. The congestion-relief benefit of public transport is thus sizeable and bus travel time gains account for an important share of it.
ISSN:1468-2702
1468-2710
DOI:10.1093/jeg/lbaa037