Park & Ride facilities and suburban sprawl

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of Park & Ride (P&R) facilities, which aim to increase the attractiveness of commuting by public transport, on population growth in suburban areas. We employ a difference-in-differences approach to parking capacity extensions of seven P&R facilities outside the central business district of the city of Vienna between 2012 and 2016. Specifically, using fine-grained grid population data, we compare population growth in close distance to the P&R facility to population growth in surrounding municipalities. We find that the expansion of a P&R facility, which is located at least 20 min away from a main public transport station in Vienna, causes population growth of, on average, 1.6–1.9% in neighbouring municipalities compared to those where the P&R facility is located. This accounts for up to 15% of the total population growth in the respective regions between 2008 and 2019 and highlights the role of P&R facilities in fostering suburbanization and the suburban sprawl.