abstract: 'In 1999, the U.S. Transportation Equity Act enabled employer subsidized

  public transit passes to be tax free benefits to employees and tax

  deductible to employers. Public transit agencies can use these to

  increase ridership, revenue or efficiency. Assessing disparities in

  access, use and willingness to use the incentive can help improve the

  policy''s effectiveness and help promote equitable access to its

  benefits.

  The analysis uses employed respondents from a travel survey in Atlanta,

  Georgia (2001-2002, n = 3430) categorized based on whether they were

  offered a subsidized transit pass by their employer, whether they used

  it or not, and whether they would be likely to use the pass if it was

  available to them. Socio-demographic characteristics, the presence of

  other incentives and built environment around home and work were

  compared across groups, and three logistic regressions were used to

  estimate parameters for each of the following questions: What

  socio-demographic and employer location characteristics are associated

  with working for an employer offering subsidized transit passes? What

  are the factors associated with using a pass if the incentive is

  offered? Finally, for those who were not offered a transit pass, what

  factors are associated with being likely to use a transit pass?

  Results suggest an undersupply of employer subsidized public transit

  passes for lower income workers, who were however more likely to report

  being likely to use a subsidized pass when not receiving one.

  Interestingly, however, lower income individuals with access to a

  transit pass were less likely to use it than their wealthier

  counterparts. Employment in sales and services, a workplace with limited

  nearby destinations and low quality transit service between home and

  work may further exacerbate disparities in use of subsidized transit

  pass. Promoting transit pass programs to employers in sales and

  services, and other lower income jobs and coordinating transit service

  improvements in locations where these employers concentrate may increase

  subsidized transit pass program effectiveness and distributional

  benefits. The work also suggests that socioeconomic disparities exist

  not only in infrastructure development and congestion charging, but also

  in policies used to influence mode shifts to public transit.'
affiliation: 'Lachapelle, U (Corresponding Author), Univ Quebec, Ecole Sci Gest, Dept
  Etud Urbaines \& Tourist, Case Postale 8888,Succursale Ctr Ville, Montreal, PQ H3C
  3P8, Canada.

  Lachapelle, Ugo, Univ Quebec, Ecole Sci Gest, Dept Etud Urbaines \& Tourist, Case
  Postale 8888,Succursale Ctr Ville, Montreal, PQ H3C 3P8, Canada.'
author: Lachapelle, Ugo
author-email: lachapelle.ugo@uqam.ca
author_list:
- family: Lachapelle
  given: Ugo
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1016/j.cstp.2017.08.006
eissn: 2213-6258
files: []
issn: 2213-624X
journal: CASE STUDIES ON TRANSPORT POLICY
keywords: 'Employer sponsored transit pass; Distributional analysis; Equity;

  Access; Choice; Willingness; Built environment'
keywords-plus: 'TRANSPORTATION POLICY; BUILT ENVIRONMENT; PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY; EQUITY

  ANALYSIS; MODE CHOICE; URBAN FORM; TRAVEL; MANAGEMENT; OWNERSHIP;

  PARKING'
language: English
month: SEP
number: '3'
number-of-cited-references: '57'
orcid-numbers: Lachapelle, Ugo/0000-0003-2306-6021
pages: 353-363
papis_id: 2791fa56b3c45772ecced6a2003ae0ba
ref: Lachapelle2018employersubsidized
times-cited: '6'
title: 'Employer subsidized public transit pass: Assessing disparities in access,
  use, and latent demand'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000441947400008
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '12'
volume: '6'
web-of-science-categories: Transportation
year: '2018'