Transforming the Asian Motorcycle City? Evaluating the Travel and Urban Development Effects of Mass Rapid Transit in Taipei, Taiwan

Motorcycles are widely used for passenger and freight transportation worldwide. However, despite all the conveniences and time-saving benefits enjoyed by motorcycle users, motorcycles produce disproportionate harm to the environment and public health, making them a pressing topic for urban planners. For example, the per-vehicle-mile-traveled emission of substances including carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons, and particulate matter of a motorcycle is higher than that of a car. Also, the per-vehicle fatality rate of a motorcycle is higher than that of a car. As a result, many cities with high motorcycle ownership rates have been establishing or expanding mass rapid transit. Whether the metro system can lure existing motorcyclists is of great policy concern, and a common goal in metro investments besides traffic congestion alleviation is to stimulate the economy through reshaping urban development patterns. Literature suggests that motorcycle ownership is associated with socioeconomic conditions and the built environment and that increased transit presence is linked to reduced motorcycle ownership and use, but scholars disagree on transit’s ability to shift activities toward stations.

My PhD dissertation explores the relationship between the built environment and motorcycle travel and the metro effects on motorcycle travel and urban development between 2000 and 2009 in Taipei, Taiwan, one the earliest motorcycle-stressed cities to have adopted mass rapid transit. Regression analysis and an econometric method of causal inference are employed on data from the two most recent large-scale household travel surveys. Findings on the relationship between motorcycle travel and the built environment suggest that being farther from the central business district and from metro stations was correlated with higher household motorcycle ownership levels, likelihood of motorcycle mode choice, and household motorcycle vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT); higher population density is correlated with higher likelihood of motorcycle mode choice and household motorcycle VKT; and lower job density was correlated with higher household motorcycle ownership levels and household motorcycle VKT. Findings on the metro effects on motorcycle travel suggest that both new and older stations are effective in reducing the motorcycle mode choice odds relative to that of the metro for trips originating and motorcycle VKT of households located in their proximity. Lastly, findings on the metro effects on urban development suggest that neither new stations nor older ones affect population or job densities in their proximity. I argue for transit-oriented development.

My PhD dissertation fills gaps in knowledge by rejecting hypotheses about how the built environment and income are related to motorcycle travel, advancing transit-motorcycle research frontiers by examining a metro system, and contributing to a currently small literature on transit effects on employment.

Bing-yu Chiu is a May 2023 graduating PhD Candidate in City and Regional Planning and will work as Research Fellow at Japan Transport and Tourism Research Institute in Tokyo, Japan after graduation. He has published peer-reviewed articles in journals including Transport Reviews and Case Studies on Transport Policy. Prior to joining Penn, Bing worked as a planning and infrastructure consultant, legislative and mayoral aide, as well as columnist and book author in Taiwan. He also interned at environmental NGOs in Japan and South Korea. He holds a Master of Science in Spatial Planning from the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, and a bachelor’s degree in international business from National Taiwan University.