Border Zone Mass Transit Demand in Brownsville and Laredo

This study examines whether economic conditions in Mexico influence public transportation ridership levels in the border cities of Brownsville and Laredo, Texas. Besides the standard variables generally utilized to model bus ridership, additional indicators included in the empirical analysis are northbound pedestrian traffic and the real exchange rate index. Seemingly unrelated regression parameter estimates suggest that the volume of pedestrian border crossings in both cities is positively related to changes in ridership. The real exchange rate index in Laredo is negatively related to fluctuations in ridership, implying that peso appreciation increases transit utilization in this border city