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Effect of public transit on crime: evidence from SEPTA strikes in Philadelphia

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Abstract

Objectives

We use the temporary closings of subway stations in Philadelphia to examine the effects of public transit on crime in the nearby communities.

Methods

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), a regional public transportation authority in Philadelphia, has experienced two labor strikes occurring in 2009 and 2016. During these two strikes, public transit was disrupted for nearly 1 week. We used the closings of 47 subway stations during strikes to evaluate the place-based effect of public transit on crime. We also examined whether these effects varied with the ridership level in each station.

Results

Total crime decreased by 38% within 100 m of the stations when subway stations were closed due to the strike and by 10% within 500 m. The primary drivers of the decrease were violent crimes, including assault and robbery. However, there is no obvious relationship between the closings of stations and the change in property crimes and mischief. In addition, crimes in stations with higher ridership declined less than those in stations with medium ridership when strikes occurred.

Conclusions

Public transit in Philadelphia appears to be associated with elevated violent crime in the surrounding community. Areas around subway stations may require greater security to control crime during its operational hours. Passengers may serve as guardians to deter some crimes when the public transit is operational.

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Notes

  1. The “assaults” category includes both aggravated assault and other assaults. The “robbery” category includes robberies with or without firearms. The “theft/larceny” category include motor vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicle, and other thefts. The “mischief” category includes receiving stolen property, disorderly conduct, gambling violations, liquor law violations, prostitution/commercialized vice, public drunkenness, vagrancy/loitering, vandalism/criminal mischief, and driving under the influence. The “Total” category includes all of the above offenses as well as other rare crime types such as homicide, rape, and arson.

  2. We labeled 11 stations with the greatest number of passenger boards as stations of high level of ridership. All these stations have over 7000 boards on an average weekday. And we labeled 10 stations with the smallest number of passenger boards as stations of low level of ridership. All these stations have fewer than 3000 boards on an average weekday.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Professor John M. MacDonald (University of Pennsylvania), Professor Charles Loeffler (University of Pennsylvania), and the JEC reviewers for their helpful comments about the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, 558 McNeil Building, 3718 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6286, USA

    Yuhao Wu & Greg Ridgeway

  2. Department of Statistics, University of Pennsylvania, 400 Jon M. Huntsman Hall, 3730 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3615, USA

    Greg Ridgeway

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  1. Yuhao Wu
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Correspondence to Yuhao Wu.

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Wu, Y., Ridgeway, G. Effect of public transit on crime: evidence from SEPTA strikes in Philadelphia. J Exp Criminol 17, 267–286 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-020-09416-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-020-09416-z

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