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Can discounted transit improve mobility and well-being for lower-income residents?

Last registered on October 23, 2023

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Can discounted transit improve mobility and well-being for lower-income residents?

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0011028

Initial registration date

March 27, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

March 30, 2023, 3:36 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated

October 23, 2023, 12:54 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Affiliation

The Lab @ DC

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

PI Affiliation

The Lab @ DC

Contact Investigator

PI Name

PI Affiliation

The Lab @ DC

Contact Investigator

PI Name

PI Affiliation

The Lab @ DC

Contact Investigator

PI Name

PI Affiliation

The Lab @ DC

Contact Investigator

PI Name

PI Affiliation

The Lab @ DC

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2022-09-30

End date

2024-01-31

Keywords

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

The cost of transportation can present challenges for low-income Washingtonians: making it harder to get a job, maintain a job, access social services, obtain healthcare, and care for their families. Building on the District’s efforts to address cost as a barrier to transit equity—such as Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 2019 Free Circulator trial and Kids Ride Free program—the District of Columbia government and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority are conducting a randomized evaluation of free and discounted transit fares. We will measure the impact of transit cost on low-income residents’ mobility, employment, and well-being. The findings may help shape initiatives to make public transit more affordable to low-income residents.

External Link(s)

Registration (and full Pre-Analysis Plan) on OSF

Registration Citation

Citation

Crum, Jack et al. 2023. "Can discounted transit improve mobility and well-being for lower-income residents?." AEA RCT Registry. October 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11028-2.0

Sponsors & Partners

Partner

Name

Department of Energy and Environment

Type

government

URL

https://doee.dc.gov/

Name

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

Type

private_company

URL

https://www.wmata.com/

Name

District Department of Transportation

Type

government

URL

https://ddot.dc.gov/

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

LIFT study-specific SmarTrip cards—Metro's payment technology for bus and rail—were programed with 9 months of the relevant discounts, then provided to residents according to their assigned group. Residents assigned to get no discounts on transit did not get a SmarTrip card from LIFT. Regardless of their assigned group, everyone who applied to LIFT and was deemed eligible will get a $25 Visa gift card. Residents in the treatment groups were directed to pick up their LIFT study-provided SmarTrip cards at WMATA’s Transit Accessibility Center from January 27 through February 24, 2023. In-person pick-up was the sole way for residents in the two treatment groups to get their study-provided SmarTrip cards until the end February 2023. We set the deadline for the pick-up period based on the expected pace of pickup; based on budget, our goal was for no more than 500 LIFT SmarTrip cards to require mailing (which was more time and resource intensive). For the cards remaining after the pickup deadline was passed, we mailed the cards to study participants on March 13, 2023.

The discounts will work when participants pay their fare on Metrobus, Metrorail, DC Circulator, and other regional bus partners in Maryland and Virginia. Those regional bus partners include Arlington Transit (ART), the City of Fairfax-University Energysaver Bus System (CUE), the Driving Alexandria Safely Home (DASH), the Fairfax Connector, TheBus in Prince George’s County, and Ride On buses in Montgomery County.

Intervention Start Date

2023-01-18

Intervention End Date

2023-10-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

1) Average number of public transit trips taken per month as measured by administrative data from SmarTrip cards
2) Proportion of months during the study that an individual was employed
3) Self-reported transportation security at the end of study: Survey-based index of six questions related to transportation security
4) Self-reported overall well-being at the end of study: Survey-based responses to the Cantril Ladder

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design

LIFT offers two different levels of transit discounts to low-income DC residents. We have enrolled 2,411 eligible residents and randomly assigned them to one of three groups: 1) free, unlimited trips; 2) a half-price discount on transit; or 3) no discount on transit.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

0 clusters

Sample size: planned number of observations

2,411 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

588 individuals were assigned to receive free unlimited trips; 783 individuals were assigned to receive half-price discounts; and 1,040 individuals were assigned to receive no discounts.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

University of Maryland, College Park IRB

IRB Approval Date

2022-09-12

IRB Approval Number

1954637-1

Analysis Plan Documents

LIFT Pre-Analysis Plan 2023

MD5: 6045b8d65fbd7aab6baae4be28c8be84

SHA1: f9eb3968c363bfcb7d626063223957f8fdedfd1e

Uploaded At: March 23, 2023

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?

No

Data Collection Complete

Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?

No

Program Files

Program Files

Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials