Exploring Behavioral Impact of Public Transportation Infrastructure: A Longitudinal Quasi-Experimental Study in the United States

探索公共交通基础设施的行为影响：美国的纵向准实验研究

• 批准号: 1461766
• 负责人: Wei Li
• 金额: $ 17.64万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-06-01 至 2018-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1461766&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Exploring; Behavioral; Impact; Public; Transportation

This project will analyze how public transportation systems influence the travel behavior of individuals and the locational behavior of firms. In the past two decades, the U.S. has invested vast amounts of capital in public transit and transit-oriented development. To build more efficient transportation systems and to leverage the investment already made, it is critical to understand how transit improvements affect the behavior of individuals and firms. The investigators will employ an innovative approach to understanding the behavioral impact of transit investments by using census microdata to conduct a longitudinal quasi-experimental analysis. The quasi-experimental analysis will examine changes after new projects open in order to make better inferences about the effect of transit infrastructure on behavior. The research will provide new perspectives, information, insights, and approaches to transportation planning and geography that differ from the previous reliance on models calibrated with cross-sectional analysis. This project will enable more robust use of longitudinal estimates based on documented behavioral change. Project results and methods will enhance the capacity of public agencies to better understand impacts of transportation infrastructure improvements. The project also will open new doors to longitudinal panel analysis in social sciences through the use of census microdata, which potentially are available for large samples nationwide. Building upon previous research in transportation planning, geography, and economics, the investigators will conduct analyses of light rail transit (LRT) systems to explore answers to two sets of questions: (1) How does a new LRT system impact the commuting behavior of individuals, and does the impact on commuting differ in magnitude across LRT corridors with different geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics? (2) How does a new LRT system influence the locational behavior of firms, and what are the characteristics of new firms that are created or established firms that choose to move into LRT corridors versus new firms that start or established firms that relocate in sites beyond the corridors? Because improvements in transportation infrastructure affects commuting behavior and firm location in complex ways, the investigators will refine innovative methods, such as two-dimensional propensity score matching, to construct a longitudinal quasi-experimental database. The data and methods will allow them to investigate the behavior of individuals and firms at a microscopic scale and reveal the causal relations among transportation infrastructure, individual commuting, and firm location behavior.

这个项目将分析公共交通系统如何影响个人的出行行为和公司的区位行为。在过去的二十年里，美国在公共交通和以交通为导向的发展上投入了大量资金。为了建立更高效的交通系统并利用已经进行的投资，了解交通改善如何影响个人和公司的行为是至关重要的。调查人员将采用一种创新的方法，通过使用人口普查微观数据来进行纵向准实验分析，以了解交通投资的行为影响。准实验分析将考察新项目开放后的变化，以便更好地推断交通基础设施对行为的影响。这项研究将为交通规划和地理提供新的视角、信息、见解和方法，不同于以前依赖横断面分析校准的模型。该项目将使基于记录在案的行为变化的纵向估计更可靠地使用。项目成果和方法将提高公共机构更好地了解交通基础设施改善的影响的能力。该项目还将通过使用人口普查微观数据为社会科学纵向小组分析打开新的大门，这些数据可能适用于全国范围内的大样本。在交通规划、地理学和经济学研究的基础上，研究人员将对轻轨交通(LRT)系统进行分析，以探索两组问题的答案：(1)新的LRT系统如何影响个人的通勤行为，以及对通勤的影响在不同地理、人口和社会经济特征的LRT走廊上是否存在不同程度的差异？(2)新的LRT系统如何影响公司的区位行为？选择进入LRT走廊的新公司与选择搬迁到走廊外的新公司或已有公司的特点是什么？由于交通基础设施的改善以复杂的方式影响通勤行为和公司位置，调查人员将提炼创新方法，如二维倾向分数匹配，以构建纵向准实验数据库。这些数据和方法将使他们能够在微观尺度上调查个人和公司的行为，并揭示交通基础设施、个人通勤和公司区位行为之间的因果关系。