particular, government leaders in Colombia have been eager to launch such systems in second-tier cities following the implementation and perceived success of the TransMilenio BRT in Bogotá. While TransMilenio has received considerable attention among researchers, few studies exist on BRT systems in smaller cities. Moreover, the existing BRT literature is focused on efficiency metrics, costbenefit analyses, and the effects on real estate markets. Few studies have concentrated on variables associated with individuals or households.

This paper presents a study on the effects of Transmetro, the BRT system in Barranquilla, on the composition of households in the neighborhoods around the stations of the newly established system. In line with a large part of the existing literature, the study finds that home values, rents, and the quality of homes increased in proximity to new stations. As a result, poor households are being replaced by households in middle- and upper-income strata. The households located near new stations became richer and more well educated and had fewer children. One result of the research is that the entire rise in home values and rents was driven by better housing quality, without any additional premium on access to public transportation. Future research should explore whether similar results or partially similar results hold in other settings and seek a causal relationship. The results described in this paper suggest that the more highly educated, more well-off households that move into the improved homes close to new public transport stations are probably too well off to prefer the proximity to the service. However, they may be attracted by other, related public investments. Alternatively, the investments may represent a signal of the greater commitment of local governments that help coordinate private investment in certain areas. None of these possibilities can be tested based on the data available to this study.

The results imply strongly negative distributional impacts among poor renters. In contrast, poor owners may either choose to stay in their homes or reap the capital gains by moving to less expensive locations. The results are also stronger in the case of feeder lines relative to main lines. This may be associated with particular characteristics of households close to the city’s main arteries or with negative amenity effects linked to main line stations, such as the greater foot traffic, noise, and commercial activity next to new stations. This is not the only study to produce this finding.

These results are important for several reasons. First, they point to the potential distributional effects of BRT systems that have been overlooked until now. Even though welfare enhancing in aggregate, the effects on the poorest socioeconomic strata are far from clear. This is especially important because improved public transportation is often aimed at benefiting the poor. The study results suggest that improved public transportation may mostly benefit the middle and higher strata at least in places with wealth and income distribution similar to Colombia. These and other outcomes among households, such as employment, income, or school attendance, should be studied further. The results here also show that concerns about the validity of studies based on pooled cross-sectional household data are entirely warranted. Given the scarcity of surveys characterized by a longitudinal design and representativeness at the level of cities, future research should find new, innovative ways to answer these questions. Finally, future work should also consider the importance of evaluating the joint 16