Equity-related Benefits of Public Transit Expansion: An Exploration of Post-secondary Student Travel Behavior Between 2015 and 2019 in the Toronto Region

This study compared transit equality before and after the Toronto-York Spadina Extension. I examine the equal distribution of subway ridership increase by socioeconomic status from 2015 to 2019. StudentMoveTO survey (Mitra et al, 2020) and Ontario margonalization Index are the key data sources ( Matheson et al., 2022). First, I look at public transit use at six universities in Toronto region. Second, I study the socio-demographic characteristics of subway riders from 2015 to 2019 on Keele campus. Using hot spot analysis, Generalized linear regression, and geographically weighted regression, I examine student subway use and if growth is correlated with socially excluded neighbourhoods. The study indicated an increase in subway use among post-secondary students to/from six campuses, especially among female, trans, and non-binary students and students with less than $30K family income who use subway to commute to/from York University's Keele campus. The data show that the relationship between student subway use and marginalised neighbourhoods varies by census tract. Most areas don't see a strong positive association between marginalisation index and the growth in using subway among the student.