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The National Academies

TCRP H-02 [Completed]

Measuring and Valuing Transit Benefits and Disbenefits

  Project Data
Funds: $300,000
Research Agency: Cambridge Systematics, Inc.
Principal Investigator: Arlee Reno
Effective Date: 5/26/1993
Completion Date: 5/31/1996

It is generally accepted that public transit produces many benefits and disbenefits that are difficult to measure and value. These are often referred to as intangible, indirect, or external benefits and disbenefits (hereafter simply referred to as benefits and disbenefits). Benefits and disbenefits occur in areas such as social and economic development, employment, air quality, transportation system operations, mobility, urban form, and land use. Transit planning and research studies employ various measures and values to describe these benefits and disbenefits in both quantitative and qualitative terms. TCRP Project H-2 developed a compilation and comparison of the transit benefits and disbenefits found in previous studies and currently used in practice.

The objectives of this research project were to (1) compile, define, and compare currently used categories of benefit and disbenefit; (2) compile and evaluate currently used measures and values; (3) develop improved or new benefit and disbenefit definitions, measures, and values; (4) identify innovative concepts from other business sectors that can be applied to the measurement and valuation of transit benefits and disbenefits; (5) facilitate the application of current, improved, or new benefit and disbenefit definitions, measures, and values; and (6) improve current analysis techniques of measuring transit's long-range, region-wide economic impacts.

Status: The results of this research are intended for use by transportation professionals and policy makers responsible for transit-investment decisions. Two reports were prepared by the research team: the popular summary and the final report. TCRP Report 20, "Measuring and Valuing Transit Benefits and Disbenefits--Summary," presents the popular summary. TCRP Report 20 is available also in portable document format (PDF). (A free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at https://www.adobe.com.)

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