The Impacts of the Mass Rapid Transit System on Household Car Ownership in Taipei

Abstract

This paper investigates the impacts of Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system on household car ownership and analyses how socioeconomic characteristics affect household car ownership. We employ a difference-in-difference (DID) strategy integrated with generalized Poisson regression models to examine the effects of MRT. The results are as follows: first, the establishment of Taipei MRT significantly reduced the level of household car ownership. Expanding the network of MRT system can be a feasible policy to control car ownership. Second, the levels of household car ownership are related to household’s socioeconomic characteristics. Third, households with high dependence on public transport own fewer cars after Taipei MRT began operation. Hence, the traffic authority should adopt more effective methods to encourage public transit use in order to decrease household car ownership.

Keywords

• Mass Rapid Transit System
• Car ownership
• Household characteristics
• Poisson regression
• Generalized Poisson
• Difference-in-difference