University / Organisation : Paris Dauphine, PSL University, France

Paper or project ? paper

Title : Tolling the Streets, Pedaling the Lanes: The Impact of NYC’s Congestion Tax on Bike-Share Ridership in the City

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Abstract : Cities around the world face environmental and congestion externalities associated with motorizedvehicleuse(cars, motorcycles, etc). Alongwithgenerallybeingunsustainable and usually entailing congestion externalities, these vehicles are also inactive modes of transport (i.e. they require no physical exercise). In this paper, I empirically investigate whether New York City’s recent congestion tax on motorized vehicles entering Midtown and Lower Manhattan has led to increased usage of the Citi Bike bike-sharing system using a Differences-in-Differences (DiD) approach. The results indicate that there is indeed an increase in Citi Bike ridership post-intervention, implying that such interven- tions can lead to increased usage of sustainable and active transport modes involving low congestion externalities. I also test the possibility of various mechanisms that could be driving the change and show that substitution from motorized vehicles is the cause of the increase, proving that the intervention led to a shift from unsustainable and inactive travel modes to an active and sustainable transport mode.