Proximity Friction and Transportation Zone Constraints

In Simple Words

Think of a gym membership plan that lets members visit any location in the city, but shuttle buses only run to gyms within their designated quadrant. Members without personal cars will naturally pick gym locations along the shuttle route, regardless of equipment quality elsewhere.

Research question

Public school choice frameworks assume students can freely transfer across a school district, but physical distance and busing availability create substantial spatial friction. Uncompensated commute costs disproportionately restrict choice sets for lower-income families who rely on district transportation bounds.

Participants

N = 36,887 human students across 2,342,254 student-school choice pairs in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, North Carolina.

Study Design

Exploded-mixed-logit demand estimation incorporating lognormal driving distances and indicator variables for Choice Zone busing availability.

Results

Commute distance imposes significant negative utility across all student demographics (lognormal distance mean parameters of -0.235 to -0.488 across middle and elementary subgroups). Guaranteed busing within a designated Choice Zone increases choice utility by 1.213 to 2.170 logit points, offsetting the disutility of an additional 3.5 to 5.0 miles of driving distance.

Takeaway

Structure busing zones and transportation subsidies explicitly around low-income housing blocks to neutralize distance disincentives when expanding school choice access.

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