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Title:

The Relationship Between Transit Stations and Crime: A Spatial Pattern Analysis of Major US Transit Systems

Accession Number:

01697304

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

Public transit has long carried a stigma as a facilitator of crime. A multitude of theories hypothesize that criminals use the mobility afforded by transit to commit crimes in a neighborhood then escape easily via transit. Others hypothesize that the additional foot traffic often found near transit stations provides more opportunities for crime. While these theories have been pervasive in some planning contexts, there are no studies to date that systematically study the true spatial relationship between rail station locations and reported crimes. Using spatial point pattern analysis, the transit-crime connection is tested across nine of the largest US rapid transit systems using all reported crimes in 2016 for each constituent jurisdiction, controlling for background population. Results indicate that across all study areas there is no statistically significant relationship between the location of violent crime or property crime and rail station locations within a quarter-mile of the station. Additionally, when controlling for background population and employment at the Census block level, rates of property crime are much lower within a half-mile of transit stations than would be expected if crime was randomly occurring. The analysis also reveals that in all of the major metro areas, violent crime does not appear to be attracted to or result from rail station locations. There is no evidence that rail transit stations attract crime or that criminals increase their activity in station areas to use transit as a quick get-away.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP018T Task Force on Transit Safety and Security.

Report/Paper Numbers:

19-04649

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

Authors:

Welch, Timothy F

Pagination:

13p

Publication Date:

2019

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2019-1-13 to 2019-1-17
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; Maps; References

Geographic Terms:

United States

Subject Areas:

Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2019 Paper #19-04649

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Dec 7 2018 9:23AM