Measuring toll burdens: Applying lorenz curves to a detailed data set of users of metropolitan transportation administration bridges in New York City

C Gordon, JR Peters - Transportation research record, 2011 - journals.sagepub.com
C Gordon, JR Peters
Transportation research record, 2011journals.sagepub.com
This paper uses a unique survey data set of toll revenue collection on New York City bridges
administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Bridges and Tunnels (MTA
Bridges and Tunnels). This data set, which contains detailed information on road user
income and location, is analyzed to assess distributional equity of burden across road users
of various toll facilities (both value-priced and fixed-rate tolls) in the New York-New Jersey
region. The distributional impact is summarized with the use of Lorenz curves and Gini …
This paper uses a unique survey data set of toll revenue collection on New York City bridges administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Bridges and Tunnels (MTA Bridges and Tunnels). This data set, which contains detailed information on road user income and location, is analyzed to assess distributional equity of burden across road users of various toll facilities (both value-priced and fixed-rate tolls) in the New York-New Jersey region. The distributional impact is summarized with the use of Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients, a standard economic measure with these and other measures, the authors develop empirical estimates of the social equity conditions on the existing priced facilities. The authors find that burdens are least equitable on facilities where there are few alternative routes and more equitable on those with more alternatives but that, in general, users of MTA Bridges and Tunnels facilities have higher income than the general population surrounding those facilities.
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