More roads or public transit? Insights from measuring city-center accessibility

Arbeitspapier

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 European 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.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: EGC Discussion Papers ; No. 1096

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: city traffic ; commuting ; local public transport ; road traffic ; local transport policy ; Europe ; USA ; Stadtverkehr ; Pendelverkehr ; Öffentlicher Nahverkehr ; Straßenverkehr ; Kommunale Verkehrspolitik ; Europa ; USA

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Conwell, Lucas ; Eckert, Fabian ; Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Yale University, Economic Growth Center
• (where): New Haven, CT
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/283230
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET