Transit subsidies, downtown commuting and equity

The Employer Transit Subsidy Study investigated how transit subsidies affected the commuting choices of workers at downtown Vancouver hotels. Its findings show that providing these workers with subsidies worth 15 to 50 per cent on their monthly transit passes persuaded a significant percentage of workers to leave their cars at home and instead take the bus or SkyTrain to work. The increase in transit-only commuting came with no reduction in walking or cycling.

Transit-only commuting increased by between three and four per cent at the hotels where the experimental transit subsidies were available and increased by less, or even declined, at the hotels where they weren’t. While these seem like small relative increases, they are significant given the high baseline level of transit commuting among the study population (over half of whom were already transit-only commuters when the study began in 2018).

The increases are also significant in view of the challenges to transit commuting facing many of these workers. Many needed to work on weekends or commute at off-peak hours, or had no regular start and end times for their shifts. Less than half of the study population lived in the City of Vancouver, resulting in longer commutes to their downtown workplaces.

Researchers collected all the study data in 2018 and 2019, before the pandemic. Seven participating hotels, along with Unite Here Local 40, allowed the SFU research teams into the hotels at three different times to survey workers about their commuting choices. At the four hotels that are members of the Greater Vancouver Hotel Employers Association, the workers already had an employer-paid 15 per cent subsidy on their transit passes, which was ratified during collective bargaining in 2015.

Few other studies focus on how workers in a specific industry respond to transit subsidies, and none focus on hospitality or tourism workers, who are so vital to Metro Vancouver’s economy. The study was possible by a partnership between SFU, the City of Vancouver, TransLink, Unite Here Local 40, and the participating hotels.

The policy impact of this research was dampened by the pandemic, but the data provides an important baseline for pandemic recovery.

This study found that the larger the transit subsidy offered, the more employees were induced to become transit riders and the more transit-only commuting increased. The increase in transit-only commuting came from a reduction in auto-only and auto-and-transit commuting. Transit subsidy acceptance and effectiveness can be dampened by factors such as the availability of cheap parking, or greater distance between the workplace and rapid transit, leading to some variability in outcomes. Transit ridership and subsidy acceptance were associated with various positive self-reported improvements to workers’ quality of life, including their health, stress levels and commute predictability. These positive quality of life outcomes were achieved without the transit subsidy having any observed effects on work schedules, turnover and performance.

About the project

Presentation at Innovations in Research, April 13, 2021