Real Time Information and Public Transit Ridership
Presented by:
Rhiannon Jerch
Agricultural and Applied Economics
UW-Madison
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
12:00 pm-1:15 pm
Taylor-Hibbard Seminar Room (Rm103)
We show that Google's launch of real-time arrival information into Google Maps increases public transit ridership. Our findings are based on a panel data set that combines information on public transit utilization with information on Google Maps' staggered arrival into different cities and transit agencies based on public press releases and newspaper reports. Ridership is 5 to 6% larger in each month at least 3 years after the roll out of real-time information into Google Maps relative to the three years prior to roll out. These findings suggest that reducing barriers to information can have significant impacts on changing people's travel behavior.