TY - JOUR
T1 - Can public transportation reduce accidents? Evidence from the introduction of late-night buses in Israeli cities
AU - Lichtman-Sadot, Shirlee
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - The notion that public transportation can mitigate accidents has been widely claimed, but to-date empirical evidence that supports this relationship in a causal manner is scarce. This paper presents results from difference-in-differences (DID) and triple differences (DDD) frameworks that exploit the introduction of late-night buses (night buses) into cities in Israel beginning in 2007. The preferred DDD specification utilizes spatial, temporal, and time-of-day variation in estimating the effect of night bus frequencies on accident outcomes. The results show a reduction in accidents involving young drivers in response to night buses, on the order of 37% in the mean metropolitan area served by night buses. Injuries resulting from these accidents also decrease by 24%. Results are robust to alternative DDD estimations, which utilize variation in the day of the week that night buses operate. Overall, the results suggest that public transportation - and in particular late-night public transportation - can entail substantial benefits in terms of road accident reductions.
AB - The notion that public transportation can mitigate accidents has been widely claimed, but to-date empirical evidence that supports this relationship in a causal manner is scarce. This paper presents results from difference-in-differences (DID) and triple differences (DDD) frameworks that exploit the introduction of late-night buses (night buses) into cities in Israel beginning in 2007. The preferred DDD specification utilizes spatial, temporal, and time-of-day variation in estimating the effect of night bus frequencies on accident outcomes. The results show a reduction in accidents involving young drivers in response to night buses, on the order of 37% in the mean metropolitan area served by night buses. Injuries resulting from these accidents also decrease by 24%. Results are robust to alternative DDD estimations, which utilize variation in the day of the week that night buses operate. Overall, the results suggest that public transportation - and in particular late-night public transportation - can entail substantial benefits in terms of road accident reductions.
KW - Drunk driving
KW - Public transportation
KW - Risky behavior
KW - Road accidents
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85058963138&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2018.11.009
DO - 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2018.11.009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85058963138
SN - 0166-0462
VL - 74
SP - 99
EP - 117
JO - Regional Science and Urban Economics
JF - Regional Science and Urban Economics
ER -