joint with Ariel Arcos and Dusan Paredes.
In Latin America, where traffic congestion is a significant issue, subway expansions are frequently employed to alleviate traffic woes. Evaluating the efficacy of these investments poses challenges, notably due to the scarcity of real-time data. This study leverages Uber Movement data, which provides insights into daily travel times, to examine the effects of subway expansion on car transportation in Santiago, Chile. We find that the introduction of a new subway line reduces car travel times by an average of 1.1%. Importantly, this positive spillover effect intensifies during peak traffic periods and near existing and newly established subway stations. Our results suggest that the benefits of subway expansions amplify with increasing car density and highlight the synergistic effects of integrated subway investments.
Revision requested at Transportation Policy.
