Project Number:
08-07
Research Project:
Revisiting the Empirical Foundations for Measuring The Capitalization of Access to Transit
P.I. Name & Address:
Christian L. Redfearn
University of Southern California
School of Policy, Planning, and Development
Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall, Room 214
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Email: redfearn@usc.edu
Website: http://www.usc.edu/schools/sppd/faculty/detail.php?id=31
Phone: (213) 821-1364
Fax: (213) 740-0001
Project Objective:
There remains little consensus as to the valuation of access to light rail. Indeed, the literature on access includes a wide variety of estimates of access capitalization into surrounding land and property values. While the modal results seems to point to modest benefits to proximity to rail stations, several recent papers suggest these papers may, in fact, be reporting net benefits to a bundle of spatial amenities and disamenities spatially correlated with the stations.
A distinct and significantly more nettlesome problem was addressed in METRANS project 04-18. While this research documented the instability and provided some evidence as to its source, the solution it proposed left several questions unanswered.
With regards to the technical aspects of the non-parametric approach, the project provided little guidance as to formal hypothesis testing. Furthermore, it suggested that only data from before and after the provision of rail services could provide clean identification of the value of access, implying that much of the existing network of freeways, bus lines, and rail lines were beyond analysis. In light of feedback the previous research has generated, it appears that both of these weaknesses can be addressed.
The first part of the proposed research would formalize the statistical basis for non-parametric analysis of capitalization. This is an essential element of gaining acceptance in a field dominated by the (demonstrably unstable) hedonic regression.
The second part would employ a formalized non-parametric approach to assess both rail and highway access capitalization in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area.
Task Descriptions
A rough list of the order of steps leading to estimation:
Develop the hypothesis testing and degrees of freedom calculations
Benchmark the results of these developments (using simulation)
-Write-up paper number one: the methodology paper
Extend the non-parametric analysis to the broader Los Angeles County data
Estimate the competing hedonic analyses
-Write-up paper number two: the capitalization analysis
Schedule:
Conditional on funding in the Spring of 2007, the summer of 2007 will be the busiest time for the project. During the summer months, the data will be extended and the basic analyses performed. Draft results of the technical paper should be ready by Fall, with presentation internally possible by late Fall. I hope to be ready to present the first draft of the paper at the annual meeting of the Regional Science Association in November of 2007. Based on feedback from this paper, the capitalization paper should be in draft from by early Spring 2008. I hope to have this article ready for submission to a peer reviewed journal by then as well.
Milestones, Dates:
September 1, 2007 – August 31, 2008
Total Budget:
$42,395
Student Involvement:
One student at 50% for 12 months
One student at 50% for 3 months
Relationship to Other Research Projects:
Related to 04-18; part of the goods movement focus area
Technology Transfer Activities:
Project report will be posted soon
Potential Benefits of the Project:
This research explores the valuation of access to light rail and other modes of transit.
TRB Keywords:
Light Rail, Transit, Access, Highway, Bus, Los Angeles
