TY - JOUR
T1 - The joint effects of income, vehicle technology, and rail transit access on greenhouse gas emissions
AU - Boarnet, Marlon G.
AU - Bostic, Raphael W.
AU - Eisenlohr, Andrew
AU - Rodnyansky, Seva
AU - Santiago-Bartolomei, Raúl
AU - Jamme, Huê Tâm Webb
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge funding from the METRANS transportation research center for this project. We thank Dr. Nesamani Kalandiyur at the Air Resources Board and Dr. Matthew Barth at University of California-Riverside for helpful comments and suggestions. We thank Anna Sporrong for exemplary research assistance.
Publisher Copyright:
© National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2018.
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - This paper examines the relationship between income, vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for households with varying access to rail transit in four metropolitan areas-Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, and Sacramento-using data from the 2010-2012 California Household Travel Survey. Daily vehicle GHG emissions are calculated using the California Air Resources Board’s 2014 EMFAC (emission factors) model. Two Tobit regression models are used to predict daily VMT and GHG by income, rail transit access (within or outside 0.5 miles of a rail transit station in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, and linear distance to rail in San Diego and Sacramento), and metropolitan area. Comparing predicted VMT and GHG emissions levels, this paper concludes that predicted VMT and GHG emission patterns for rail access vary across metropolitan areas in ways that may be related to the age and connectivity of the areas’ rail systems. The results also show that differences in household VMT due to rail access do not scale proportionally to differences in GHG emissions. Regardless, the fact that GHG emissions are lower near rail transit for virtually all income levels in this study implies environmental benefits from expanding rail transit systems, as defined in this paper.
AB - This paper examines the relationship between income, vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for households with varying access to rail transit in four metropolitan areas-Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, and Sacramento-using data from the 2010-2012 California Household Travel Survey. Daily vehicle GHG emissions are calculated using the California Air Resources Board’s 2014 EMFAC (emission factors) model. Two Tobit regression models are used to predict daily VMT and GHG by income, rail transit access (within or outside 0.5 miles of a rail transit station in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, and linear distance to rail in San Diego and Sacramento), and metropolitan area. Comparing predicted VMT and GHG emissions levels, this paper concludes that predicted VMT and GHG emission patterns for rail access vary across metropolitan areas in ways that may be related to the age and connectivity of the areas’ rail systems. The results also show that differences in household VMT due to rail access do not scale proportionally to differences in GHG emissions. Regardless, the fact that GHG emissions are lower near rail transit for virtually all income levels in this study implies environmental benefits from expanding rail transit systems, as defined in this paper.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85052323894&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85052323894&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0361198118787087
DO - 10.1177/0361198118787087
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85052323894
SN - 0361-1981
VL - 2672
SP - 75
EP - 86
JO - Transportation Research Record
JF - Transportation Research Record
IS - 24
ER -