Can Public Transport Improve Accessibility for the Poor Over the Long Term? Empirical Evidence in Paris, 1968-2010

36 Pages Posted: 4 Mar 2022 Last revised: 3 Oct 2022

See all articles by Vincent Viguie

Vincent Viguie

CIRED, International Research Center on Environment & Development, France

Charlotte Liotta

CIRED, International Research Center on Environment & Development, France; affiliation not provided to SSRN; Technische Universitat Berlin

Basile Pfeiffer

CIRED, International Research Center on Environment & Development, France; Université Paris-Saclay

Nicolas Coulombel

Ecole des Ponts ParisTech

Abstract

It is tricky to cut transport greenhouse gases emissions without affecting negatively the poorest people. A solution, in cities, is to target low income districts with public transport investments. However, after a few years, changes in neighborhoods, especially transit-induced gentrification, may prevent the social objective to be met. Whether public transport actually leads to population displacement has been extensively studied empirically, but the literature is inconclusive: the longer-term impact of such investments remains unclear. Here, we study the evolution of job accessibility in Paris metropolitan area between 1968 and 2010, by income and labor group, following the changes in the transport network. We show that major public transport lines, when they were built, served the needs of all groups in an almost neutral way. However, a few years later, due to population and job movements, actual changes in accessibility were systematically different and resulted in gains for richer households and losses for poorer ones. Such a pattern is consistently observed in every decade between 1968 and 2010. It appears to be due primarily to unequal changes in the numbers of jobs in each labor group, and secondly to the changes in both job locations and in inhabitants’ residences. To maintain job accessibility to poorest inhabitants over time, beyond improving transport network, trying to maintain -or to move in a planned way- the location of their jobs and residence appears as a key variable.

Keywords: Public transport, inequalities, job accessibility, population displacement

Suggested Citation

Viguie, Vincent and Liotta, Charlotte and Liotta, Charlotte and Pfeiffer, Basile and Coulombel, Nicolas, Can Public Transport Improve Accessibility for the Poor Over the Long Term? Empirical Evidence in Paris, 1968-2010. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4049765 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4049765

Vincent Viguie (Contact Author)

CIRED, International Research Center on Environment & Development, France ( email )

Campus du Jardin Tropical
45 bis avenue de la Belle Gabrielle
F94736 Nogent sur Marne Cedex
France

Charlotte Liotta

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

CIRED, International Research Center on Environment & Development, France ( email )

Campus du Jardin Tropical
45 bis avenue de la Belle Gabrielle
F94736 Nogent sur Marne Cedex
France

Technische Universitat Berlin ( email )

Berlin
Germany

Basile Pfeiffer

CIRED, International Research Center on Environment & Development, France ( email )

Campus du Jardin Tropical
45 bis avenue de la Belle Gabrielle
F94736 Nogent sur Marne Cedex
France

Université Paris-Saclay ( email )

Nicolas Coulombel

Ecole des Ponts ParisTech ( email )

6-8 avenue Blaise-Pascal, Cité Descartes
Champs-sur-Marne
Marne-la-Vallée Cedex 2, 77455
France

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
98
Abstract Views
445
Rank
575,788
PlumX Metrics