IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/pubtra/v11y2019i1d10.1007_s12469-019-00195-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An econometric investigation of the influence of transit passes on transit users’ behavior in Toronto

Author

Listed:
  • Khandker Nurul Habib

    (University of Toronto)

  • Sami Hasnine

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract

The paper presents the results of an empirical investigation of the influence of transit pass ownership on daily transit service usage behavior under a flat fare system. The transit system of the City of Toronto is investigated to evaluate the factors that influence the choice of owning a transit pass and at the same time whether or not a pass ownership influences different transit ridership behavior. Data from a household travel survey are used to estimate a joint econometric model of the choice of owning a transit pass as a function of benefits/utility drawn from daily transit usage (trip rate and distance travel) along with different socio-economic and land-use variables. Results clearly show that a transit pass has a profound and segmenting influence on ridership behavior in terms of the daily frequency of transit trips and the total distance travel by transit. Non-pass owners seem to draw higher utility from daily transit usage than the pass owners. Pass owners seem to have utility of owning a pass over and above the utility drawn from the daily use of the transit service. A transit pass is often considered as a mobility tool, but this investigation clearly shows an empirical evidence of it. The results suggest that it works for small-size families, people with work/student status, high income and places where compact development makes transit service competitive to other modes of transportation. Empirical results show the influence of different variables can be exploited to cater to various policies that may encourage higher pass ownership rate and thereby reduce demand for private automobiles.

Suggested Citation

  • Khandker Nurul Habib & Sami Hasnine, 2019. "An econometric investigation of the influence of transit passes on transit users’ behavior in Toronto," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 111-133, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:pubtra:v:11:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s12469-019-00195-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s12469-019-00195-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12469-019-00195-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12469-019-00195-z?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. Small, Kenneth A, 1987. "A Discrete Choice Model for Ordered Alternatives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(2), pages 409-424, March.
    2. Bhat, Chandra R., 1998. "Analysis of travel mode and departure time choice for urban shopping trips," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 361-371, August.
    3. Lee, Lung-Fei, 1983. "Generalized Econometric Models with Selectivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(2), pages 507-512, March.
    4. Colin Vance & Matthias Peistrup, 2012. "She’s got a ticket to ride: gender and public transit passes," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(6), pages 1105-1119, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Nurul Habib, Khandker M. & Day, Nicholas & Miller, Eric J., 2009. "An investigation of commuting trip timing and mode choice in the Greater Toronto Area: Application of a joint discrete-continuous model," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 639-653, August.
    2. Peter Davis & Pasquale Schiraldi, 2014. "The flexible coefficient multinomial logit (FC-MNL) model of demand for differentiated products," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(1), pages 32-63, March.
    3. Laura Grigolon, 2021. "Blurred boundaries: A flexible approach for segmentation applied to the car market," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 12(4), pages 1273-1305, November.
    4. Andrew Daly & Stephane Hess & Geoff Hyman & John Polak & Charlene Rohr, 2005. "Modelling departure time and mode choice," ERSA conference papers ersa05p688, European Regional Science Association.
    5. Elizabeth Sall & Chandra Bhat, 2007. "An Analysis of Weekend Work Activity Patterns in the San Francisco Bay Area," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 161-175, March.
    6. Bhat, Chandra R. & Guo, Jessica, 2004. "A mixed spatially correlated logit model: formulation and application to residential choice modeling," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 147-168, February.
    7. Jason D. Lemp & Kara M. Kockelman & Paul Damien, 2012. "A Bivariate Multinomial Probit Model for Trip Scheduling: Bayesian Analysis of the Work Tour," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(3), pages 405-424, August.
    8. Peer, Stefanie & Knockaert, Jasper & Koster, Paul & Tseng, Yin-Yen & Verhoef, Erik T., 2013. "Door-to-door travel times in RP departure time choice models: An approximation method using GPS data," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 134-150.
    9. Zheng Zhu & Xiqun Chen & Chenfeng Xiong & Lei Zhang, 2018. "A mixed Bayesian network for two-dimensional decision modeling of departure time and mode choice," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 1499-1522, September.
    10. Khan, Mubassira & Machemehl, Randy, 2017. "Commercial vehicles time of day choice behavior in urban areas," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 68-83.
    11. Bwambale, Andrew & Choudhury, Charisma F. & Hess, Stephane, 2019. "Modelling departure time choice using mobile phone data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 424-439.
    12. Francisco Cisternas & Wee Chaimanowong & Alan Montgomery & Timothy Derdenger, 2020. "Influencing Competition Through Shelf Design," Papers 2010.09227, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    13. Kato, Hironori & Kaneko, Yuichiro & Soyama, Yoshihiko, 2014. "Economic benefits of urban rail projects that improve travel-time reliability: Evidence from Tokyo, Japan," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 202-210.
    14. Daly, Andrew & Bierlaire, Michel, 2006. "A general and operational representation of Generalised Extreme Value models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 285-305, May.
    15. Stephane Hess & John Polak & Andrew Daly & Geoffrey Hyman, 2007. "Flexible substitution patterns in models of mode and time of day choice: new evidence from the UK and the Netherlands," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 213-238, March.
    16. Ke Wang & Chandra R. Bhat & Xin Ye, 2023. "A multinomial probit analysis of shanghai commute mode choice," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 1471-1495, August.
    17. Lizana, Pedro & Ortúzar, Juan de Dios & Arellana, Julián & Rizzi, Luis I., 2021. "Forecasting with a joint mode/time-of-day choice model based on combined RP and SC data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 302-316.
    18. David R. Bell & Jeongwen Chiang & V. Padmanabhan, 1999. "The Decomposition of Promotional Response: An Empirical Generalization," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 504-526.
    19. Paleti, Rajesh, 2018. "Generalized multinomial probit Model: Accommodating constrained random parameters," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 248-262.
    20. Ariu, Andrea & Breinlich, Holger & Corcos, Gregory & Mion, Giordano, 2019. "The interconnections between services and goods trade at the firm-level," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 173-188.

    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:spr:pubtra:v:11:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s12469-019-00195-z. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.