New ridership for old rail: An analysis of changes in the utilization of Chicago's urban rail system, 1990–2008

Marcelo E. Lascano Kežić; Pablo Luis Durango-Cohen

doi:10.1016/j.retrec.2018.06.012

New ridership for old rail: An analysis of changes in the utilization of Chicago's urban rail system, 1990–2008

Marcelo E. Lascano Kežić^*, Pablo Luis Durango-Cohen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We analyze the evolution of the spatial distribution of ridership in Chicago's Elevated Train over the last two decades, by means of station-level average daily passenger entries and census data to establish links between ridership changes and urban processes. Overall, we observe that 2007–2008 ridership was slightly below 1989–1990 levels, but recovering since the late 1990s. Ridership gains have shown a strong tendency to concentrate within a 10 km radius from the CBD. Outside of this area, losses since 1989–1990 have been steady. The ridership recovery and its spatial distribution appear, therefore, to be related to an acceleration of urban processes, i.e., gentrification, immigration, employment concentration in the CBD.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	17-26
Number of pages	10
Journal	Research in Transportation Economics
Volume	71
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2018.06.012
State	Published - Nov 2018

Keywords

Chicago
Downtown
Gentrification
Immigration
Ridership data
Urban rail
Urban transportation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Transportation
Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.retrec.2018.06.012

Cite this

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title = "New ridership for old rail: An analysis of changes in the utilization of Chicago's urban rail system, 1990–2008",

abstract = "We analyze the evolution of the spatial distribution of ridership in Chicago's Elevated Train over the last two decades, by means of station-level average daily passenger entries and census data to establish links between ridership changes and urban processes. Overall, we observe that 2007–2008 ridership was slightly below 1989–1990 levels, but recovering since the late 1990s. Ridership gains have shown a strong tendency to concentrate within a 10 km radius from the CBD. Outside of this area, losses since 1989–1990 have been steady. The ridership recovery and its spatial distribution appear, therefore, to be related to an acceleration of urban processes, i.e., gentrification, immigration, employment concentration in the CBD.",

keywords = "Chicago, Downtown, Gentrification, Immigration, Ridership data, Urban rail, Urban transportation",

author = "{Lascano Ke{\v z}i{\'c}}, {Marcelo E.} and Durango-Cohen, {Pablo Luis}",

note = "Funding Information: Support from a Fulbright Fellowship awarded by the U.S. Department of State to the first author is gratefully acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 Elsevier Ltd",

year = "2018",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1016/j.retrec.2018.06.012",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "71",

pages = "17--26",

journal = "Research in Transportation Economics",

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T2 - An analysis of changes in the utilization of Chicago's urban rail system, 1990–2008

AU - Lascano Kežić, Marcelo E.

AU - Durango-Cohen, Pablo Luis

PY - 2018/11

Y1 - 2018/11

N2 - We analyze the evolution of the spatial distribution of ridership in Chicago's Elevated Train over the last two decades, by means of station-level average daily passenger entries and census data to establish links between ridership changes and urban processes. Overall, we observe that 2007–2008 ridership was slightly below 1989–1990 levels, but recovering since the late 1990s. Ridership gains have shown a strong tendency to concentrate within a 10 km radius from the CBD. Outside of this area, losses since 1989–1990 have been steady. The ridership recovery and its spatial distribution appear, therefore, to be related to an acceleration of urban processes, i.e., gentrification, immigration, employment concentration in the CBD.

AB - We analyze the evolution of the spatial distribution of ridership in Chicago's Elevated Train over the last two decades, by means of station-level average daily passenger entries and census data to establish links between ridership changes and urban processes. Overall, we observe that 2007–2008 ridership was slightly below 1989–1990 levels, but recovering since the late 1990s. Ridership gains have shown a strong tendency to concentrate within a 10 km radius from the CBD. Outside of this area, losses since 1989–1990 have been steady. The ridership recovery and its spatial distribution appear, therefore, to be related to an acceleration of urban processes, i.e., gentrification, immigration, employment concentration in the CBD.

KW - Chicago

KW - Downtown

KW - Gentrification

KW - Immigration

KW - Ridership data

KW - Urban rail

KW - Urban transportation

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New ridership for old rail: An analysis of changes in the utilization of Chicago's urban rail system, 1990–2008

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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