A faster commute, a better opportunity? The impact of Bus Rapid Transit in Brasília

Do investments in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) benefit workers equally across neighborhoods? We study the labor market effects of the implementation of the BRT Expresso DF in 2014 in Brasília, which connected two peripheral districts with distinct socioeconomic profiles to the central business district (CBD) and reduced commuting times by 55%. Using detailed worker-level survey data and a difference-in-differences design, we find that residents of the low-income, transit-dependent served district experienced a 10.16% increase in hourly wages relative to a matched control group, while residents of the middle-income served district experienced no significant earnings gains. We find no robust effect on employment. We further show that exposed workers in the low-income district became more likely to work in the CBD after the BRT’s implementation, suggesting that improved access to higher-paying central jobs is a plausible mechanism behind the wage gains. Our findings indicate that the labor market benefits of BRT depend on local socioeconomic conditions and are larger in disadvantaged, transit-dependent neighborhoods, where such investments are more likely to reduce spatial mismatch.