Title
Accessibility and Transit Performance
Abstract
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.
Series/Report Number
Nexus Working Papers;
000129
Funding information
University of Minnesota
RP Braun/CTS Chair in Transportation,
Accessibility Observatory
Suggested Citation
Ermagun, Alireza; Levinson, David, M.
(2015).
Accessibility and Transit Performance.
Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy,
https://hdl.handle.net/11299/179832.