IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/regeco/v86y2021ics016604622030301x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of fare-free public transport on travel behavior: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Author

Listed:
  • Bull, Owen
  • Muñoz, Juan Carlos
  • Silva, Hugo E.

Abstract

Fare-free public transportation has recently gained attention from policymakers and has been proposed as a measure to reduce pollution and road congestion in several cities around the world. We investigate the impact of fare-free public transport on travel behavior by randomly assigning a pass to workers in Santiago (Chile). The pass allowed them unlimited travel for two weeks, as opposed to paying the regular fare of approximately US$ 1 per trip. The main impact of fare-free public transport is an increase in overall travel of 12%. We also find a 23% increase in the total number of trips made during off-peak periods that is explained in equal shares by increases in public transport and non-motorized trips. Two-thirds of the aggregate effect on off-peak travel occurs during weekday off-peak periods and is mostly due to a 28% increase in trips made by public transport. We find no evidence of mode or period substitution and that the effect on public transport trips is entirely explained by trips that use the subway and by individuals who live within one km. from a station.

Suggested Citation

  • Bull, Owen & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Silva, Hugo E., 2021. "The impact of fare-free public transport on travel behavior: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:86:y:2021:i:c:s016604622030301x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2020.103616
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016604622030301X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2020.103616?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mohring, Herbert, 1972. "Optimization and Scale Economies in Urban Bus Transportation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 591-604, September.
    2. Ian W. H. Parry & Kenneth A. Small, 2009. "Should Urban Transit Subsidies Be Reduced?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 700-724, June.
    3. Leonardo J. Basso & Hugo E. Silva, 2014. "Efficiency and Substitutability of Transit Subsidies and Other Urban Transport Policies," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 1-33, November.
    4. Glaister, Stephen & Lewis, Davis, 1978. "An integrated fares policy for transport in London," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 341-355, June.
    5. Simon Franklin, 2018. "Location, Search Costs and Youth Unemployment: Experimental Evidence from Transport Subsidies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(614), pages 2353-2379, September.
    6. Sequeira, Sandra & Banerjee, Abhijit, 2020. "Spatial Mismatches and Imperfect Information in the Job Search," CEPR Discussion Papers 14414, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Jara-Díaz, Sergio & Cruz, Diego & Casanova, César, 2016. "Optimal pricing for travelcards under income and car ownership inequities," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 470-482.
    8. Hugo Silva, 2019. "The Mohring Effect," Documentos de Trabajo 529, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    9. Oded Cats & Yusak O. Susilo & Triin Reimal, 2017. "The prospects of fare-free public transport: evidence from Tallinn," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(5), pages 1083-1104, September.
    10. Kristina Shampanier & Nina Mazar & Dan Ariely, 2007. "Zero as a Special Price: The True Value of Free Products," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 742-757, 11-12.
    11. Proost, Stef & Dender, Kurt Van, 2008. "Optimal urban transport pricing in the presence of congestion, economies of density and costly public funds," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 1220-1230, November.
    12. De Witte, Astrid & Macharis, Cathy & Mairesse, Olivier, 2008. "How persuasive is 'free' public transport?: A survey among commuters in the Brussels Capital Region," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 216-224, July.
    13. Hidalgo, Dario & Huizenga, Cornie, 2013. "Implementation of sustainable urban transport in Latin America," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 66-77.
    14. Börjesson, Maria & Fung, Chau Man & Proost, Stef, 2017. "Optimal prices and frequencies for buses in Stockholm," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 20-36.
    15. Abou-Zeid, Maya & Ben-Akiva, Moshe, 2012. "Travel mode switching: Comparison of findings from two public transportation experiments," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 48-59.
    16. Girum Abebe & Stefano Caria & Marcel Fafchamps & Paolo Falco & Simon Franklin & Simon Quinn, 2016. "Curse of Anonymity or Tyranny of Distance? The Impacts of Job-Search Support in Urban Ethiopia," NBER Working Papers 22409, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Kurt Van Dender, 2003. "Transport Taxes with Multiple Trip Purposes," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 105(2), pages 295-310, June.
    18. Phillips, David C., 2014. "Getting to work: Experimental evidence on job search and transportation costs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 72-82.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brough, Rebecca & Freedman, Matthew & Phillips, David C., 2022. "Experimental evidence on the effects of means-tested public transportation subsidies on travel behavior," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    2. Sanguinetti, Angela PhD & Alston-Stepnitz, Eli & Nelson, Leslie & Searl, Emily & DePew, Ashley, 2024. "Evaluating Universal Basic Mobility Pilot Programs in Oakland and Bakersfield, California," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt6j66v8kc, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    3. Guzman, Luis A. & Hessel, Philipp, 2022. "The effects of public transport subsidies for lower-income users on public transport use: A quasi-experimental study," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 215-224.
    4. Shi, Linchang & Yang, Jiayu & Lee, Jaeyoung Jay & Bai, Jun & Ryu, Ingon & Choi, Keechoo, 2024. "Spatial-temporal identification of commuters using trip chain data from non-motorized mode incentive program and public transportation," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    5. Rozynek, Caroline, 2024. "Imagine the financial barrier to public transport use disappears. The impact of the 9-Euro-Ticket on the mobility and social participation of low-income households with children," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 80-90.
    6. Brough, Rebecca & Freedman, Matthew & Ho, Daniel E. & Phillips, David C., 2022. "Can transportation subsidies reduce failures to appear in criminal court? Evidence from a pilot randomized controlled trial," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    7. Stéphanie Truchet-Aznar & Chloé Duvivier & Jacques Veslot, 2024. "Assessing the impact of fare-free public transport on ridership. The case of Clermont Auvergne Metropole [Évaluation de l’impact de la gratuité des transports en commun sur leur fréquentation. Appl," Post-Print hal-04747019, HAL.
    8. Danijel Hojski & David Hazemali & Marjan Lep, 2022. "The Analysis of the Effects of a Fare Free Public Transport Travel Demand Based on E-Ticketing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-16, May.
    9. Basnak, Paul & Giesen, Ricardo, 2023. "Assessing free-fare public transport in Chilean cities through optimization models," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    10. Pogonyi, Csaba G. & Graham, Daniel J. & Carbo, Jose M., 2021. "Metros, agglomeration and displacement. Evidence from London," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    11. Ramírez, Vicente & Galilea, Patricia & Poblete, Joaquín & Silva, Hugo E., 2022. "Team-based incentives in transportation firms: An experiment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-12.
    12. Klotz, Phil-Adrian & Daniel, Theresa & Gail, Maximilian Maurice, 2024. "The Impact of Public Transport Subsidies on Highway Traffic: Evidence from Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302401, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Allister Loder & Fabienne Cantner & Lennart Adenaw & Nico Nachtigall & David Ziegler & Felix Gotzler & Markus B. Siewert & Stefan Wurster & Sebastian Goerg & Markus Lienkamp & Klaus Bogenberger, 2023. "Germany's nationwide travel experiment in 2022: public transport for 9 Euro per month -- First findings of an empirical study," Papers 2306.08297, arXiv.org.
    14. Fielbaum, Andres, 2024. "On the relationship between free public transport, stop spacing, and optimal frequencies," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Owen Bulla & Juan Carlos Muñoz & Hugo Silva, 2019. "The impact of fare-free public transport on travel behavior: evidence," Documentos de Trabajo 531, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    2. Hörcher, Daniel & Tirachini, Alejandro, 2021. "A review of public transport economics," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    3. Tirachini, Alejandro & Proost, Stef, 2021. "Transport taxes and subsidies in developing countries: The effect of income inequality aversion," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    4. Brough, Rebecca & Freedman, Matthew & Phillips, David C., 2022. "Experimental evidence on the effects of means-tested public transportation subsidies on travel behavior," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    5. Asplund, Disa & Pyddoke, Roger, 2020. "Optimal fares and frequencies for bus services in a small city," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Börjesson, Maria & Eliasson, Jonas & Rubensson, Isak, 2020. "Distributional effects of public transport subsidies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. De Borger, Bruno & Proost, Stef, 2022. "Covid-19 and optimal urban transport policy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 20-42.
    8. Jara-Díaz, Sergio & Fielbaum, Andrés & Gschwender, Antonio, 2020. "Strategies for transit fleet design considering peak and off-peak periods using the single-line model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1-18.
    9. Martin W Adler & Federica Liberini & Antonio Russo & Jos N. van Ommeren, 2021. "The congestion relief benefit of public transit: evidence from Rome," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 397-431.
    10. Anders Bondemark & Henrik Andersson & Anders Wretstrand & Karin Brundell-Freij, 2021. "Is it expensive to be poor? Public transport in Sweden," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2709-2734, October.
    11. Hörcher, Daniel & De Borger, Bruno & Seifu, Woubit & Graham, Daniel J., 2020. "Public transport provision under agglomeration economies," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    12. Börjesson, Maria & Fung, Chau Man & Proost, Stef & Yan, Zifei, 2018. "Do buses hinder cyclists or is it the other way around? Optimal bus fares, bus stops and cycling tolls," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 326-346.
    13. Vigren, Andreas & Pyddoke, Roger, 2020. "The impact on bus ridership of passenger incentive contracts in public transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 144-159.
    14. Hörcher, Daniel & De Borger, Bruno & Graham, Daniel J., 2023. "Subsidised transport services in a fiscal federation: Why local governments may be against decentralised service provision," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    15. Börjesson, Maria & Fung, Chau Man & Proost, Stef & Yan, Zifei, 2017. "Cycling tolls and optimal number of bus stops: the importance of congestion and crowding," Working papers in Transport Economics 2017:10, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI).
    16. Xuto, Praj & Anderson, Richard J. & Graham, Daniel J. & Hörcher, Daniel, 2021. "Optimal infrastructure reinvestment in urban rail systems: A dynamic supply optimisation approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 251-268.
    17. Guillaume Monchambert & Stef Proost, 2019. "How Efficient are Intercity Railway Prices and Frequencies in Europe?: Comparing a Corridor in Belgium and in France," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 53(4), pages 323-32-347.
    18. Pyddoke, Roger & Lindgren, Hanna, 2018. "Outcomes from new contracts with “strong” incentives for increasing ridership in bus transport in Stockholm," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 197-206.
    19. Klotz, Phil-Adrian & Daniel, Theresa & Gail, Maximilian Maurice, 2024. "The Impact of Public Transport Subsidies on Highway Traffic: Evidence from Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302401, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    20. Maria Börjesson & Chau Man Fung & Stef Proost & Zifei Yan, 2019. "Do Small Cities Need More Public Transport Subsidies Than Big Cities?," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 53(4), pages 275-27-298.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public transport pricing; Fare-free public transport;

    JEL classification:

    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:86:y:2021:i:c:s016604622030301x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/regec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.