Transformations  in
Business & Economics

THE IMPACT OF RAIL TRANSIT ON ROAD TRAFFIC CONGESTION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF NETWORK PLATFORM: EVIDENCE FROM SHANGHAI, CHINA⁸
Yuegang Chen, Xinglong Du, Yan Wu

ABSTRACT. The negative externalities of urban road traffic congestion are becoming increasingly prominent. Based on the perspective of network platform, this paper depicts the dynamic passenger flow within the rail transit network platform as well as the dynamic passenger flow between the rail transit network platform and road network platform, so as to explain the mechanism of rail transit's impact on road traffic congestion. Combined with tracking data from Shanghai as well as the methods of instrumental variables, dummy variables, heterogeneity analysis and robustness test, this empirical study analyzes the influence of direct network and cross network externalities on passenger flow within rail transit network platform. It is also considered the effect that rail transit network platform and road network platform exert on each other's passenger flow. The main contributions of this paper include: first, quantitatively analyzing the impact of direct and cross network externalities on the passenger flow in rail transit network platform. Second, taking the potential negative network effect into account and analyzing the interaction of rail transit platform and road network platform.

KEYWORDS:  rail transit network platform, road network platform, passenger flow, network externalities, instrumental variable method.

JEL classification:  R41, L91, H83.

⁸Acknowledgment: supported by Shanghai Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science (No. 2018TZB011).