AEA RCT Registry

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Testing the Impact of Subsidized Public Transit for Unemployed Persons

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0011522

Initial registration date

June 06, 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

June 15, 2023, 3:55 PM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name

David Phillips

Affiliation

University of Notre Dame

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2023-05-25

End date

2028-05-25

Keywords

Labor

Additional Keywords

Transportation

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

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

Abstract

There is substantial evidence to show that transportation poses a barrier for low-income individuals searching for jobs, especially for those residing in neighborhoods further away from job opportunities (Phillips, 2014). If an individual can’t pay for transportation to job interviews or training, job search intensity wanes and poverty persists.

Several researchers have studied the impact of free public transportation on people’s travel habits, finding that immediate transit use and mobility increase significantly. For example, one field experiment that provided free public transportation to a large group of employed individuals found a 12% increase in overall travel and a 23% increase in travel during off-peak hours (Bull et al., 2021). Another large-scale experiment that provided free transit to individuals with low income documented a doubling of transit use (Brough et al., 2022). These results show high potential for an uptake in transit usage and could suggest an even larger jump for a low-income population. However, a follow-up paper showed limited effects of the transit subsidy on hours worked (Brough et al., 2023). Null results for employment may have occurred because that study sample was too detached from the labor market or because free transit affects employment outcomes beyond hours worked and wage rates. The Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) has partnered with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Uplift Northwest (Uplift), a temporary staffing agency serving a population of overwhelmingly low-income and/or homeless people, to bridge this gap by pairing free transit to people enrolled in Uplift’s job matching programs and studying its impact on employment and self-sufficiency outcomes using Uplift’s detailed data on participants’ interactions with the labor market.

LEO will be conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate this program. Clients of Uplift who consent to participation will be randomly assigned to receive either a one-time $10 transit card or a fully subsidized transit card. Outcomes of interest include transit usage and labor market outcomes. We will also measure benefits utilization (such as SNAP and TANF) and housing stability.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Phillips, David. 2023. "Testing the Impact of Subsidized Public Transit for Unemployed Persons." AEA RCT Registry. June 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11522-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

There is substantial evidence to show that transportation poses a barrier for low-income individuals searching for jobs, especially for those residing in neighborhoods further away from job opportunities (Phillips, 2014). If an individual can’t pay for transportation to job interviews or training, job search intensity wanes and poverty persists.

Several researchers have studied the impact of free public transportation on people’s travel habits, finding that immediate transit use and mobility increase significantly. For example, one field experiment that provided free public transportation to a large group of employed individuals found a 12% increase in overall travel and a 23% increase in travel during off-peak hours (Bull et al., 2021). Another large-scale experiment that provided free transit to individuals with low income documented a doubling of transit use (Brough et al., 2022). These results show high potential for an uptake in transit usage and could suggest an even larger jump for a low-income population. However, a follow-up paper showed limited effects of the transit subsidy on hours worked (Brough et al., 2023). Null results for employment may have occurred because that study sample was too detached from the labor market or because free transit affects employment outcomes beyond hours worked and wage rates. The Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) has partnered with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Uplift Northwest (Uplift), a temporary staffing agency serving a population of overwhelmingly low-income and/or homeless people, to bridge this gap by pairing free transit to people enrolled in Uplift’s job matching programs and studying its impact on employment and self-sufficiency outcomes using Uplift’s detailed data on participants’ interactions with the labor market.

LEO will be conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate this program. Clients of Uplift who consent to participation will be randomly assigned to receive either a one-time $10 transit card or a fully subsidized transit card. Outcomes of interest include transit usage and labor market outcomes. We will also measure benefits utilization (such as SNAP and TANF) and housing stability.

Intervention Start Date

2023-05-25

Intervention End Date

2026-05-25

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Transportation: Number of boardings using study transit card
Employment: Hours worked per week at jobs offered by Uplift Northwest

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Transportation: Number of boardings using study transit card
Number of trips using study transit card
Use of study card after subsidy expires
Subsets of boardings by mode, line, time of day and location

Employment:
Hours worked per week at jobs offered by Uplift Northwest
Hours worked per quarter at all UI-covered jobs
Income earned from jobs offered by Uplift Northwest
Total earnings
Job characteristics
Job performance

Well-Being:
Homeless Program Use
Professional development opportunities utilized
“points” accrued
Receiving any public assistance
Receipt of different types of assistance
Expected overall cost of healthcare
Indicator for any emergency department visit
Indicator for any hospital inpatient visit
Indicator for any outpatient visit
Arrest within one year
Whether individual moves
Move location

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

New clients visit Uplift Northwest’s offices in-person in order to complete their onboarding. During onboarding, clients will fill out a survey about their current transit behavior. As part of their onboarding, clients will meet with an SDOT intern, who will walk the client through the informed consent process for the research study. If the client consents to the study, they will fill out a digital intake form. At the end of the form, clients will automatically be randomized into either the control group, receiving an ORCA card preloaded with $10, or the treatment group, receiving a fully subsidized ORCA card that provides free transit for 12 months. Clients who do not consent to the study will also be provided with a one-time $10 ORCA card. All clients, regardless of consent or randomization status, will receive standard Uplift Northwest services.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

The digital study intake form has an embedded randomizer which places the client in the treatment group with a probability of 1/2 or the control group with a probability of 1/2.

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

The sample is not clustered.

Sample size: planned number of observations

832 individual Uplift Northwest clients

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

416 treatment, 416 control

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

About 832 consenting individuals will participate after two years of enrollment with 50% in each group (based on historical enrollment numbers and 80% consent rate). Assuming only 70% of participants take up the subsidized transportation and an R^2 on the controls of 0.10, the study is powered to detect a 154.51 hour change in time worked annually, or a change of about 3 hours worked per week. This is within Uplift Northwest and SDOT’s goal of increasing hours worked to 15 hours per week.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

The University of Notre Dame Institutional Review Board

IRB Approval Date

2023-05-10

IRB Approval Number

22-12-7535

Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis Plan

MD5: c18a85b421f7109aea5f65038eb51708

SHA1: a64d0433df2070891c350dfb0667272b947ac37a

Uploaded At: June 06, 2023