Full Citation

Title: More Roads or Public Transit? Insights from Measuring CityCenter Accessibility

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2023

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.3386/w30877

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: We propose a theory-inspired measure of the accessibility of a city's center: the size of the surrounding area from which it can be reached within a specific time. Using publicly-available optimal routing software, we compute these "accessibility zones" for the 109 largest American and European cities, separately for cars and public transit commutes. Compared to Eu-ropean cities, US cities are half as accessible via public transit and twice as accessible via cars. Car accessibility zones are always larger than public transit zones, making US cities more accessible overall. However, US cities' car orientation comes at the cost of less green space, more congestion, and worse health and pollution externalities.

Url: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2095&context=egcenter-discussion-paper-series

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Conwell, Lucas; Eckert, Fabian; Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq

Series Title: NBER Working Paper Series

Publication Number: 30877

Institution: NBER National Bureau of Economic Research

Pages: 1-44

Publisher Location:

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Land Use/Urban Organization

Countries: