The impact of urban public transportation evidence from the Paris region

How does transportation shape intrametropolitan growth? An answer from the Regional Express Rail

“…This paper's contribution is nonnegligible as it provides much‐needed evidence from an analysis conducted at the intrametropolitan level in one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe. Furthermore, our results for the Paris metropolitan area complement those obtained by Mayer and Trévien () using a different empirical strategy with a restricted sample of municipalities from the Paris metropolitan area. It is also important to note that some of our suburban and intrametropolitan results verify the theoretical predictions we discussed.…”

“…Between 1975 and 2010, the RER network increased its number of lines from one to five, its total length from 39 to 587 km, its number of stations from 22 to 243, and the number of municipalities having an RER station grew from 16 to 167 (see Appendix B Table B.1 Panel B). We refer to Mayer and Trévien () for a detailed history of the rail network in the Paris metropolitan area, and for a thorough explanation of the differences between the two regional train networks.…”

“…A first category of solution consists in using exogenous deviations from initial transportation plans (see, for instance, Baum‐Snow, ; Michaels, ). Special mention needs to be made to Mayer and Trévien () who also focus on the Paris region. They exploit the deviation from the initial investment plan for the RER network resulting from budgetary and technical constraints to evaluate the impact of the opening and of the progressive extension of the RER between 1975 and 1990 on employment and population at the municipal level.…”

Next Train to the Polycentric City: The Effect of Railroads on Subcenter Formation

“…Relying on detailed population and employment data at the municipal level from six census waves (1968,1975,1982,1990,1999 and 2010), we are able to track the evolution of the urban spatial structure of the Paris metropolitan area over the past forty years. We also use precise transportation data, provided by Mayer and Trévien (2015) and the IAU, to characterize the changes in the area's public transportation over the period. This data illustrates two features that will be central to our analysis: (1) the Paris metropolitan area is undergoing a process of employment decentralization in which its central city (Paris) loses jobs in favor of suburban locations, and (2) its public transportation infrastructure is based on a rail transit network that has been dramatically improved since the 1960s.…”

How Does Transportation Shape Intrametropolitan Growth? An Answer from the Regional Express Rail

“…Special mention needs to be made to Mayer and Trévien (2015) who focus on the Paris region to evaluate the impact of the opening and of the progressive extension of the RER between 1975 and 1990 on employment, number of firms, and population at the municipal level. Their identification strategy exploits the deviation from the initial investment plan for the RER network resulting from budgetary and technical constraints.…”