UCLA

Recent court cases and news reports on transit projects have focused on the effects of construction on business revenue and survival, yet the topic remains underexplored in the scholarly literature. This thesis examines whether transit construction negatively affected businesses’ revenue and survival along the second segment of the Los Angeles Metro Rail Red Line under Vermont and Hollywood Boulevards. Using regression analysis on National Establishment Time-Series data, I find that business survival was lower along the corridor than for the county as a whole, but not significantly different from a nearby control corridor. I also find little evidence of revenue impacts. These findings suggest that revenue loss from transit construction is not the main mechanism by which businesses are displaced and that further research is needed to understand the source of community concerns.