Accessibility and Transit Performance

This study disentangles the impact of financial and physical dimensions of transit service operators on net transit accessibility for 46 of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. To investigate this interaction along with the production efficiency of transit agencies, two types of analysis are used: a set of linear and quadratic regressions and a data envelopment analysis. We find that vehicle revenue kilometers and operational expenses play a pivotal role in enhancing the accessibility to jobs by transit. The bivariate linear regression models indicate a 1% increase in operational expenses and vehicle revenue kilometers increase the number of jobs that can be reached within 30 minutes by 0.96 and 0.95%, respectively. The results of the quadratic functional form, also, show transit services may have both increasing and decreasing accessibility returns to scale depending on system size, and the results are sensitive to the model used. Overall, the highest system efficiency (access produced per input) is found in the New York, Washington, and Milwaukee metropolitan areas, while Riverside, Detroit, and Austin perform with the lowest efficiency.

[1]  P. Viton.  A TRANSLOG COST FUNCTION FOR URBAN BUS TRANSIT , 1981 .

[2]  M. Farsi,et al.  Cost Efficiency in Regional Bus Companies: An Application of Alternative Stochastic Frontier Models , 2006 .

[3]  K. Button,et al.  AN EXAMINATION OF THE COST STRUCTURES ASSOCIATED WITH PROVIDING URBAN BUS SERVICES IN BRITAIN , 1985 .

[4]  P. Douglas,et al.  A theory of production , 1928 .

[5]  B. Hollingsworth.  Non-Parametric and Parametric Applications Measuring Efficiency in Health Care , 2003, Health care management science.

[6]  Henry-Jean Gathon.  Indicators Of Partial Productivity And Technical Efficiency In The European Urban Transit Sector , 1989 .

[7]  Leonard Merewitz,et al.  ESTIMATING COST FUNCTIONS FOR RAIL RAPID TRANSIT PROPERTIES , 1978 .

[8]  Bert van Wee,et al.  Accessibility evaluation of land-use and transport strategies: review and research directions , 2004 .

[9]  J. G. Koenig,et al.  Indicators of urban accessibility: Theory and application , 1980 .

[10]  Martin Williams.  FIRM SIZE AND OPERATING COSTS IN URBAN BUS TRANSPORTATION , 1979 .

[11]  R. Young,et al.  Economies of Scale , 1987 .

[12]  Debbie A. Niemeier,et al.  Measuring Accessibility: An Exploration of Issues and Alternatives , 1997 .

[13]  W. Cooper,et al.  Data Envelopment Analysis: A Comprehensive Text with Models, Applications, References and DEA-Solver Software , 1999 .

[14]  W. G. Hansen.  How Accessibility Shapes Land Use , 1959 .

[15]  K. Obeng,et al.  RE-EXAMINATION OF INEFFICIENCIES IN URBAN TRANSIT SYSTEMS: A STOCHASTIC FRONTIER APPROACH , 1995 .

[16]  Kofi Obeng.  THE ECONOMICS OF BUS TRANSIT OPERATION , 1984 .

[17]  L. Frank,et al.  Urban form, travel time, and cost relationships with tour complexity and mode choice , 2007 .

[18]  Matthew G. Karlaftis,et al.  System size and cost structure of transit industry , 1999 .

[19]  Matthew G. Karlaftis,et al.  COST STRUCTURES OF PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEMS: A PANEL DATA ANALYSIS , 2002 .

[20]  A. Charnes,et al.  Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis , 1984 .

[21]  G. R. Nelson.  AN ECONOMETRIC MODEL OF URBAN BUS TRANSIT OPERATIONS , 1972 .

[22]  J S Wabe,et al.  THE SHORT AND LONG-RUN COST OF BUS TRANSPORT IN URBAN AREAS , 1975 .

[23]  Ginés de Rus.  PUBLIC TRANSPORT DEMAND ELASTICITIES IN SPAIN , 1990 .

[24]  R. Cervero,et al.  COMMUTING IN TRANSIT VERSUS AUTOMOBILE NEIGHBORHOODS , 1995 .

[25]  Ardeshir J. Dalal,et al.  ESTIMATION OF THE ELASTICITIES OF FACTOR SUBSTITUTION IN URBAN BUS TRANSPORTATION: A COST FUNCTION APPROACH* , 1981 .

[26]  Ian Savage,et al.  Scale economies in United States rail transit systems , 1997 .

[27]  J. Johnston.  Scale, Costs and Profitability in Road Passenger Transport , 1956 .

[28]  David M Levinson,et al.  Access to Destinations: Development of Accessibility Measures , 2006 .

[29]  David M Levinson,et al.  Modeling the commute mode share of transit using continuous accessibility to jobs , 2015 .

[30]  Hiroyuki Iseki.  Economies of scale in bus transit service in the USA: How does cost efficiency vary by agency size and level of contracting? , 2008 .

[31]  M. Kwan.  Space-time and integral measures of individual accessibility: a comparative analysis using a point-based framework , 2010 .

[32]  Daniel J. Graham,et al.  ECONOMIES OF SCALE AND DENSITY IN URBAN RAIL TRANSPORT: EFFECTS ON PRODUCTIVITY , 2003 .

[33]  Kofi Obeng,et al.  BUS TRANSIT COST, PRODUCTIVITY AND FACTOR SUBSTITUTION , 1985 .

[34]  Shunfeng Song,et al.  Some Tests of Alternative Accessibility Measures: A Population Density Approach , 1996 .

[35]  Susan L Handy,et al.  Smart Growth and the Transportation-Land Use Connection: What Does the Research Tell Us? , 2005 .

[36]  T. R. Nunamaker,et al.  Using data envelopment analysis to measure the efficiency of non‐profit organizations: A critical evaluation , 1985 .

[37]  A. El-geneidy,et al.  Access to Destinations: How Close Is Close Enough? Estimating Accurate Distance Decay Functions for Multiple Modes and Different Purposes , 2008 .

[38]  D. R. Ingram.  The concept of accessibility: A search for an operational form , 1971 .

[39]  Rosella Levaggi.  Parametric and non parametric approach to efficiency: the case of urban transport in Italy , 1994 .

[40]  Debbie A. Niemeier,et al.  Accessibility: an evaluation using consumer welfare , 1997 .

[41]  Chakkaphant Nanutsathit.  Economies of Scale In Bus Transport , 1980 .