Data and Code for: Evaluating the Impact of Urban Transit Infrastructure: Evidence from Bogotá’s TransMilenio
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Nick Tsivanidis, University of California at Berkeley
Version: View help for Version V1
| Name | File Type | Size | Last Modified |
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| code | 08/22/2025 01:50:PM | ||
| codebooks | 11/25/2025 02:35:PM | ||
| data | 08/22/2025 01:48:PM | ||
| results | 08/22/2025 01:48:PM | ||
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application/pdf | 344.8 KB | 11/25/2025 09:32:AM |
Project Citation:
Project Description
This paper estimates the equilibrium effects of improving public transit infrastructure on city structure and welfare. It begins by developing a quantitative urban model with multiple groups of workers and transit modes. A special case of this model admits a sufficient statistics approach that measures aggregate welfare gains from improved transit in a broader class of models. The paper then estimates the reduced-form elasticities needed to implement the approach using data spanning the construction of the world’s largest Bus Rapid Transit system in Bogotá, Colombia. This class of models performs well in explaining the adjustment of economic activity to the system. The standard approach for measuring the welfare gains from new infrastructure based on the value of travel time saved only accounts for 52% of the total welfare gain. Using the more general model to assess the distributional consequences, there is little impact on inequality after accounting for reallocation and general equilibrium effects.
Scope of Project
F63 Economic Impacts of Globalization: Economic Development
O18 Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
P25 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
R11 Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
R13 General Equilibrium and Welfare Economic Analysis of Regional Economies
R40 Transportation Economics: General
R41 Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
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