Explaining transit expenses in US urbanised areas: Urban scale, spatial form and fiscal capacity

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 58; no. 2; pp. 280 - 296
• Main Authors: Zhao, Jerry Zhirong, Lou, Shengnan, Fonseca, Camila, Feiock, Richard, Shen, Ruowen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-02-2021; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Capital; Capital investments; Costs; Data collection; Demography; Immigrants; Investments; Mass transit; Political finance; Political ideologies; Poverty; Race; Transportation; Urban areas; Urban poverty; Urban transportation; United States > US; transit expenses; urban transit; spatial form; 财政能力; 城市公交; financial capacity; political market; 空间形式; 政治市场; 出行开支
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098019892582

This research seeks to explain patterns of capital investment and operating expenses for urban transit systems in the United States. We isolate supply factors including urban scales, urban spatial form and financial capacity. Individual and group transit demands are accounted for by social and demographic characteristics including education level, immigrant populations, poverty levels, senior population and race. The results demonstrate that transit investments are super-linear to population, directly contradicting predictions of Bettencourt’s popular urban scale theory. Transit expenses are explained primarily by urban scales, urban spatial form and financial capacity, but demand forces such as poverty, car usage and political ideology have strong effects as well.