Daniel Baldwin Hess

Impact of Proximity to Light Rail Rapid Transit on Station-area Property Values in Buffalo, New York:

This study assesses the impact of proximity to light rail transit stations on residential property values in Buffalo, New York, where light rail has been in service for 20 years, but population is declining and ridership is decreasing. Hedonic models are constructed of assessed value for residential properties within half a mile of 14 light rail stations and independent variables are included that describe property characteristics, neighbourhood characteristics and locational amenities. The model suggests that, for homes located in the study area, every foot closer to a light rail station increases average property values by

Effect of Free Parking on Commuter Mode Choice: Evidence from Travel Diary Data

2.31 (using geographical straight-line distance) and

Access to Employment for Adults in Poverty in the Buffalo-Niagara Region:

0.99 (using network distance). Consequently, a home located within one-quarter of a mile radius of a light rail station can earn a premium of

TRADITIONAL NEIGHBORHOODS AND AUTOMOBILE OWNERSHIP

1300-3000, or 2-5 per cent of the citys median home value. Model results further suggest that three independent variables-the number of bathrooms, size of the parcel and location on the East side or West side of Buffalo-are more influential than rail proximity in predicting property values. Individual regression models for each of the light rail systems 14 stations suggest that effects are not felt evenly throughout the system. Proximity effects are positive in high-income station areas and negative in low-income station areas. An analysis of the actual walking distance to stations (along the street network) versus the perceived proximity to stations (measured by straight-line distance) reveals that the results are statistically more significant in the network distance than the straight-line distance model, but the effects are greater in the straight-line distance model, which suggests that apparent proximity to rail stations is an added locational advantage compared with physical walking distance to the station.

WAITING FOR THE BUS

This study assesses the effect of free parking on mode choice and parking demand. A multinomial logit model is developed to evaluate the probabilities that commuters who do and do not receive free parking at work will choose to drive alone, ride in a carpool, or use transit for the trip to work in the central business district (CBD) of Portland, Oregon. The mode choice model predicts that with free parking, 62 percent of commuters will drive alone, 16 percent will commute in carpools, and 22 percent will ride transit; with a daily parking charge of

Measuring the Role of Transportation in Facilitating the Welfare-to-Work Transition: Evidence from Three California Counties

6, 46 percent will drive alone, 4 percent will ride in carpools, and 50 percent will ride transit. The mode choice model predicts that a daily parking charge of

Governmental Subsidies for Public Transit: History, Current Issues, and Recent Evidence

6 in the Portland CBD would result in 21 fewer cars driven for every 100 commuters. This translates to a daily reduction of 147 vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per 100 commuters and an annual reduction of 39,000 VMT per 100 commuters. These findings are consistent with previous studies on how parking cost affects mode choice. The policy variables that help influence mode choice decisions for commuters are the parking cost and the travel time by transit. The results suggest that raising the cost of parking at work sites and decreasing the transit travel time (by improving service and decreasing headways) will reduce the drive alone mode share. The results provide little support for the contention that land use is a significant factor in mode choice decisions.

Light Rail Lite or Cost-Effective Improvements to Bus Service? Evaluating Costs of Implementing Bus Rapid Transit

This study extends the spatial mismatch literature by examining access to employment for the low-income population in Erie and Niagara Counties in western New York State. The analysis uses geographical information systems (GIS) to map residence and employment locations and calculate measures of employment and transport access. Throughout the two-county region, two-thirds of adults in poverty live within close proximity to a reasonable number of low-wage jobs. The ratio of the number of jobs accessible within a 30-minute commute by automobile versus public transit varies only slightly across neighbourhoods with high poverty rates. The close proximity of the suburbs to the central city and the network of grid and radial streets connecting the two places make suburban job access reasonable. Thus, despite higher numbers of low-wage jobs in the suburbs, job access in the city is superior to job access in the suburbs due to higher densities of employment opportunities and the existence of developed transport networks. While poverty is highly centralised in the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, the analysis suggests that, based on the spatial distribution of low-wage employment and concentrations of poverty, central-city locations have significant advantages in terms of proximity to jobs. However, Black/African American adults in poverty have poorer access to automobiles than Whites, and, as a result, they may be able to search for jobs only within a smaller area. This study recommends enhancements to public transit in places with large concentrations of low-wage jobs and increased access to reliable automobiles in places with small concentrations of low-wage jobs. Above all, unemployment rates in low-income neighbourhoods suggest a need to enhance programmes to improve job readiness, placement and support services.

Bus Rapid Transit Identity: An Overview of Current “Branding” Practice

Many cities have traditional neighborhoods composed of diverse housing, mixed land uses, pedestrian connectivity, and convenient transit access. The effects of these types of land use patterns on automobile ownership are quantified. Using Portland, Oregon, a model is tested that explains automobile ownership on the basis of household, neighborhood, and urban design characteristics. Strong evidence is found of the effect of mixed land use on automobile ownership: as land use mix changes from homogeneous to diverse, the probability of owning an automobile decreases by 31 percentage points, ceteris paribus. Findings imply that traditional neighborhoods are more conducive to alternatives to private vehicle use, such as walking and public transit. It was concluded that inner-ring suburbs that have traditional neighborhood features provide households with the opportunity to express their preference to avoid automobile ownership and to save on the cost of owning and operating automobiles.

Preferences Toward Neighbor Ethnicity and Affluence: Evidence from an Inherited Dual Ethnic Context in Post-Soviet Tartu, Estonia

In a natural experiment, college students riding public transit to UCLA were presented with the opportunity to pay for time savings. They could pay 75c to travel right away, or wait an average of 5.3 minutes for a free ride. 86% of riders chose to wait rather that pay. Their behavior suggests that the disutility of time spent waiting for a free ride is less than