School Runs and Urban Traffic Congestion: Evidence from China

It is widely believed that school runs generate urban traffic congestion. In this paper, the authors present credible evidence for this causal link using unique panel data that monitor traffic conditions in Beijing from 2015 to 2016. The authors adopt a triple difference strategy that utilizes three variations in traffic flows on the roads by school days and school holidays, by roads near and further away from schools, and by hours of school runs and other hours. The authors find that school runs increase the probability of road congestion by 4.5 percentage points. The impact is larger in the morning than that in the afternoon. Moreover, traffic congestion is more severe around schools that are larger, better, public rather than private, in more expensive neighborhoods, or with no student accommodation. Further analyses reveal that staggered school hours and provision of school buses can reduce congestion and improve social welfare.

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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01660462
Supplemental Notes:
- © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
Authors:
- Sun, Weizeng
- Guo, Dongmei
- Li, Qiang
- Fang, Haidong
Publication Date: 2021-1

Language

English

Media Info

Media Type: Web
Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
Serial:
- Regional Science and Urban Economics
- Volume: 86
- Issue Number: 0
- Publisher: Elsevier
- ISSN: 0166-0462
- Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01660462

Subject/Index Terms

TRT Terms: Panel studies; School trips; Schools; Spatial analysis; Traffic congestion; Traffic surveillance; Urban areas
Geographic Terms: Beijing (China)
Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

Accession Number: 01759671
Record Type: Publication
Files: TRIS
Created Date: Nov 12 2020 3:19PM