Investments in light rail transit (LRT) have become increasingly popular solutions to promote sustainable urban transportation. However, their impacts on cities are still subject to discussion in the academic community. There is a clear need to better understand the potential impacts of LRT projects, particularly in contexts other than major cities. In this study, we focus on the Olsztyn tram project, which has been implemented in a city of 173,000 residents situated in northeastern Poland. The paper combines different perspectives and data sources, including a study of residents’ stated preferences concerning travel behavior and modelling of housing price effects using the difference-in-differences approach. Our results suggest that the Olsztyn tram project led to a moderate change in travel behavior by increasing the frequency of public transport use but did not result in a substantial shift away from car commuting. Concerning the property market, a decline in prices was observed during the construction phase, but no statistically significant effects were found after completion.

中文翻译：

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轻轨对中等城市的影响：来自波兰奥尔什丁的证据

对轻轨交通 (LRT) 的投资已成为促进可持续城市交通的日益流行的解决方案。然而，它们对城市的影响仍有待学术界讨论。显然需要更好地了解轻轨项目的潜在影响，尤其是在主要城市以外的环境中。在这项研究中，我们重点关注 Olsztyn 有轨电车项目，该项目已在波兰东北部一个拥有 173,000 名居民的城市实施。该论文结合了不同的观点和数据来源，包括对居民对出行行为的陈述偏好的研究，以及使用差异中的差异方法对房价影响的建模。我们的研究结果表明，Olsztyn 有轨电车项目通过增加公共交通工具的使用频率导致出行行为发生适度变化，但并未导致汽车通勤的实质性转变。在房地产市场方面，在建设阶段观察到价格下跌，但在竣工后没有发现统计上的显着影响。