[sustran] Re: Economic value of urban transport system

[Eric Bruun]

To elaborate on Todd's point below, using a per kilometer cost is
not really the right analysis when computing total costs. The big
savings from a transit-oriented region is the shorter average
trip lengths for a give population size and the ability for people
to travel using non-motorized modes. 

Also, it is important to distinguish between public and private
expenditures. In the US, the focus is almost always on how much
transit is costing instead of how much autos are costing. Puget
Sound Regional Council (website I believe is www.psrc.org) did
a computation of total expenditures for both freight and
passenger transportation in the greater Seattle region, including
some "externalities" like pollution costs. It might be worth
looking at. It found that about 90 percent of all passenger 
transportation costs are private. (Transit service is being
slashed in this region by 40 percent due to an antitax initiative that
cuts excise taxes off car users. Supposedly, this is because they were
being unfairly taxed in order to waste too much money on transit. There
was no mention how small a portion of the total cost of car ownership
this tax really was and that many households actually save money by not
having to own as many cars. That is why the public/private distinction is
important.)  Eric Bruun

On Tue, 25 Jan 2000, Todd Litman wrote:

> 
> Our report "Transportation Cost Analysis - Techniques, Estimates and
> Implications" includes estimates of all identified costs (user costs,
> government costs, external costs) for eleven modes (cars, rideshare
> passengers, transit, bicycling, walking, etc.). A summary is available at
> our website, and hard copies of the comprehensive 240-page report are
> available for $40 (OK, I'll give you a 25% discount, so make that $30).
> 
> Our Transportation Cost Analyzer software automates these calculations so
> you can quickly estimate the full costs of various modes under different
> conditions and assumptions. It includes default cost values that can be
> adjusted as desired.
> 
> This analysis does show that automobile travel tends to have far higher
> total costs than other modes. Although transit modes also tend to have
> relatively high costs per passenger-km, transit-dependent people tend to
> travel far less per year than motorists, so total per capita costs tend to
> be lower in multi-modal communities. Research described in "Automobile
> Dependency and Economic Development" (a paper posted at our website) also
> indicates that total per capita transportation costs are higher in
> automobile-dependent regions.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Todd Litman, Director
> Victoria Transport Policy Institute
> "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
> 1250 Rudlin Street
> Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada
> Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560
> E-mail:  litman at vtpi.org
> Website: http://www.vtpi.org
> 
>