Here’s an interesting new working paper: Subways, Strikes, and Slowdowns. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an ungated version. But here’s the summary: the author argues that mass transit has a significant impact in reducing traffic congestion, even when it carries only a small fraction of commuters. Why? Because commuters who take mass transit are, very disproportionately, people who would otherwise be driving on the most congested routes. So even the small number of people taken off the roads has a surprisingly large effect in reducing travel delays.

Indeed. I take the train to New York, which keeps me out of the Lincoln Tunnel, and thereby does drivers a big favor. Who cares if nobody takes the train to suburban office campuses?

The author tests this claim by taking advantage of a natural experiment, a subway strike in Los Angeles, and finds that even in LA, where public transit is a very small factor, the strike had a quite large effect on travel delays. And he concludes that the LA subway system easily passes a cost-benefit test.

Neat stuff. But then I would say that, wouldn’t I? As George Will explained, my motives are sinister:

the real reason for progressives’ passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans’ individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism.

Muahahaha.