Paying for Travel Distance and Time Saving: Transit Fare and Benefit Mismatch and Its Justice Implications
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 147, Issue 3
Abstract
Transit fares affect not only whether people are not overburdened with their expenditure on transit services but also whether people can get reasonable benefits from transit services for what they pay. Prevalence of various simplified fare systems and highly differentiated service quality point to a plausible prima facie concern that transit riders suffer from transit fare and benefit mismatch (TFBM), evoking justice concerns and potential impacts on transit usage. This article enriches our understanding of justice implications of transit fares by proposing new metrics and testing them empirically in Hong Kong, where transit dependence is high, that is, a considerable proportion of transit traffic is captive. By considering travel distance and time savings as primary benefits, two indexes are proposed to quantify TFBM. The distributional effects of TFBM on different neighborhood segments are compared and the relationships between spatial or socioeconomic vulnerability, TFBM, and transit usage are explored. Our findings suggest that the transit use ratio of neighborhoods in the peripheral areas of the city is significantly influenced by TFBM, while socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods are less sensitive to TFBM. Owing to the lack of available alternatives of motorized mode choice, socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods face a higher risk of being impaired by TFBM.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Hui Oi Chow Trust Fund General Award of the University of Hong Kong (Nos. 201901172001 and 201801172001); the Seed Fund for Basic Research of the University of Hong Kong (No. 201810159014); and the Hong Kong RGC Theme-based Research Scheme (No. T32-101/15-R).
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Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 147 • Issue 3 • September 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 13, 2020
Accepted: Apr 7, 2021
Published online: Jun 2, 2021
Published in print: Sep 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Nov 2, 2021
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