Running for the 7:45: The effects of public transit improvements on commuter stress

This research project took advantage. of the. implementation of a major mass transit improvement by New Jersey Transit which provided a one-scat ride into New York City for many commuters who previously had to transfer in Hoboken in order to take. Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) trains into New York City. The. creation of this new service. provided a natural experiment in which some. riders switched to the. new route., while. others continued to use. their previous route.. We. studied psychological and psychophysiological responses to these. commuting options, using a quasi-experimental, pre-post change., field research design. We found that riders on this new line. had lower levels of stress, as multiply measured, than they had earlier, before. the. advent of this new train, or than did other riders currently using the. Hoboken-PATH option. The. stress effects seemed to be. mediated by the. time. of the. trip that is, the. reduced trip time. of the. new, direct service. seemed to be. a primary factor in the. reduced stress to riders. Predictability of the. trip was also inversely correlated with stress, but did not distinguish between the. commuter groups. These. results were. largely replicated with a student group who rode. the. same. lines acting as simulated commuters.