Topic: Can Digital Technology Improve Crowd Congestion Management in Public Transit ? The Effect of Mobile Subway Passes on Subway Commuting Time

Lecturer: Associate Prof. Weizeng Sun, School of Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics

Time: 9:00-10:30 a.m. May 15th, 2023

Venue: B423 Zhixin Building, Central Campus

Abstract:We investigate the impact of mobile subway passes on subway commuting time by leveraging a rich dataset of QR code scan records collected from Beijing Subway turnstiles during the period from March to July 2018. By exploiting the sharp temporal discontinuity in subway commuting times that followed the metro’ s adoption of QR code payment on April 29, 2018, we identify the causal congestion-alleviating effects of the digital payment system. We find that OR code passes reduce the total station entry time and en-route travel time for OR code pass users by approximately 63 seconds and 15 seconds, respectively. Notably, we also document significant time-saving benefits for non-adopters, possibly due to the reduction in high density crowd turbulence resulting from the adoption of digital payment technology. The magnitude of these effects varies considerably depending on the local adoption rates, entry and exit time, the subway line, ridership, and local demography. The OR code adoption generates 695.6million RMB in annual benefits by 2018. These findings have important policy implications for adopting new technologies to ease crowd congestion and prevent crowd disasters in public transit.