A Monocentric City With Discrete Transit Stations

Overview & Synopsis

We extend the monocentric model by considering a discrete number of accessible mass transit stations. Households combine two modes for their daily home-to-work trip: a first mode for terminal access to stations and a second (long haul) mode which consists in radial mass transit axes. The urban equilibrium, i.e. city size and households' distribution, is derived as a function of the mass transit network and the distribution of land housing capacity. Then at the urban equilibrium the land rent is peaked at transit stations and decreases with the travel cost from the city center rather than with the distance to it. Accordingly, the housing lot size increases with the travel cost from the city center. These features distinguish our framework from previous monocentric models. Our analysis is based on the assumptions that land-owners are absent and city is open (the households' level of utility is given and the population size is endogenous). For numerical illustration, the model is calibrated to a selected rail network in the Paris area. A sensitivity analysis of the urban structure and land-use equilibrium is conducted with respect to the key model parameters.