This dissertation investigates transportation subsidies as sources of urban sprawl. Apart from tolls, motorists do not pay highway user-fees, but they do pay gasoline taxes. Gasoline tax revenues are insufficient to cover the U.S. highway costs. Government, therefore, uses general tax revenues to cover highway expenditures. Since users do not pay the full cost of their travel, they have an incentive to travel longer commuting distances. Highway subsidies are, therefore, a potential contributor to urban sprawl. A similar argument applies to public transit. To capture the effects of subsidized automobile and public transit travel, we ex-tend the standard urban spatial single-mode model (Brueckner, 1987) to incorporate public subsidies for both one and two modes. Comparative static analysis of both models produces empirically testable hypotheses. Our most important theoretical result is that transit subsidies are inversely related to urban sprawl while auto subsidies are directly related to urban sprawl. The empirical analysis focuses on tests of the two-mode model. For consistency with the monocentric assumption of our models, our sample consists of urbanized areas located within a single county and having only one central city. Spatial size of the urbanized area is the dependent variable. Following our theory, explanatory variables comprise the transit subsidy, the highway subsidy, number of households, agricultural land rent, mean household income, and fixed and variable costs for transit and auto. We find that the spatial size of the urbanized area shrinks with an increase in the transit subsidy. The effect of highway subsidies, however, is ambiguous. We apply both ordinary least squares and two-stage least square regression analyses, and the results are qualitatively the same for both methods of estimation.

Thesis (MComm (Logistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The current subsidy system, designed to make South Africa’s public transport more affordable, has instead contributed to a worsening of the existent neglected state of affairs. Although subsidy policies are in place, misdirected allocation renders them mostly ineffective. The implementation of the new integrated public transport systems for metropolitan areas affords an opportunity to adopt a broad spectrum approach and initiate a redesigned and improved subsidy system. The purpose of this study is to assess the South African urban public transport industry with the aim of finding by means of a system-based process a subsidy approach that will overcome the remaining inequalities of the past. This study will consequently evaluate different subsidy theories and determine which one(s) will be best suited to the demands of a specific period. The final objective is to design a product which offers government a systembased process that will help it determine, every few years, whether the subsidy regime being applied at that juncture is still relevant to the requirements of the market and/or what (new) approach is necessary to achieve social and economic wellbeing. Commuter transport in South Africa is currently in a transition phase where new public transport infrastructure is being implemented in the metropolitan cities. The current economic recession (making people’s demand more elastic to prices) present a good time to conduct the system-based process necessary for transition of the public transport system and determine an optimal subsidy approach for the new system. The first step in the system-based process was to determine the scope of work and the overall objectives that should be reached. The main public transport shortcomings are the lack of accessibility to affordable transport for the poor and increasing private transport ownership by the rich, which increases congestion and forms the second step of the systembased process. The third step stated the action plan of strategies on how the objectives could be reached. These three steps also form the basic measurement criteria against which the different subsidy approaches needed to be tested. The fourth step in the system-based process to a better subsidy approach was to evaluate different theoretical subsidy approaches. The review of different subsidy approaches has indicated that some approaches work better than others, but an optimal subsidy system is almost never found.

Submitted by Daniela Stucchi da Silva Maeji (danistucchimaeji@gmail.com) on 2018-09-13T19:26:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis_Daniela Stucchi_final_protocolo.pdf: 7690556 bytes, checksum: a0307b47423eadcf14b0abd0219e89d8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2018-09-13T19:52:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis_Daniela Stucchi_final_protocolo.pdf: 7690556 bytes, checksum: a0307b47423eadcf14b0abd0219e89d8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-09-14T13:12:47Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis_Daniela Stucchi_final_protocolo.pdf: 7690556 bytes, checksum: a0307b47423eadcf14b0abd0219e89d8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-14T13:12:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thesis_Daniela Stucchi_final_protocolo.pdf: 7690556 bytes, checksum: a0307b47423eadcf14b0abd0219e89d8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-16 / This research investigates the impacts of public transit on air pollution and health in the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area. Subsidies for public transport systems are highly controversial and there is no consensus in the literature on their efficiency. One of the reasons advanced to support public transit subsidization refers to the negative externalities that automobile use generates, such as air pollution and its adverse health effects, assuming that these external costs are not fully internalized by automobile users through other policies. However, the empirical question remains as to whether increasing transit provision is welfare-enhancing in this respect, especially in megacities of developing countries. To be able to infer a causal relationship, we adopted a quasi-experimental approach using public transit strikes to identify exogenous variations in the outcomes of interest. The results suggest significant benefits for providing public transit, especially with regard to impacts on traffic-related air pollutants and respiratory illness in young children, with stronger effects for those residing near more congested arterial roads. It is expected that the findings will inform policy makers’ efforts to evaluate existing fare subsidies and potential pricing reforms, especially in times of fiscal stress. / Esta pesquisa investiga os impactos do transporte público na poluição do ar e saúde na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo. Os subsídios para sistemas de transporte público são altamente controversos e não há consenso na literatura sobre sua eficiência. Um dos argumentos a favor ao subsídio do transporte público refere-se às externalidades negativas que o uso do automóvel gera, como a poluição do ar e seus efeitos adversos à saúde, assumindo que esses custos externos não são totalmente internalizados pelos usuários de automóveis por meio de outras políticas. No entanto, permanece uma questão empírica saber se a crescente oferta de transporte público é benéfica ao bem-estar neste aspecto, especialmente nas megacidades dos países em desenvolvimento. Para ser capaz de inferir uma relação causal, adotamos uma abordagem quase experimental usando greves do transporte público para identificar variações exógenas nos resultados de interesse. Os resultados sugerem benefícios significativos da oferta de transporte público, especialmente no que diz respeito aos impactos sobre os poluentes atmosféricos relacionados ao tráfego e doenças respiratórias em crianças pequenas, com efeitos mais fortes para aqueles que residem perto de vias arteriais mais congestionadas. Espera-se que as conclusões dessa pesquisa informem os formuladores de políticas em seus esforços de avalição dos subsídios ao transporte público existentes e potenciais reformas de preços, especialmente em tempos de estresse fiscal.