[sustran] Re: cost to a city of a single say 3 km. car trip during the day?

[Todd Alexander Litman]

Our report, "Transportation Cost And Benefit 
Analysis" (http://www.vtpi.org/tca ) provides a 
framework for calculating these costs,  extensive 
references, estimates of these costs, and a 
spreadsheet to automate cost calculations. For 
information on municipal government borne costs, see:

David Anderson and Gerard McCullough (2000), The 
Full Cost of Transportation in the Twin Cities 
Region, Center for Transportation Studies, 
University of Minnesota (<file:///www1.umn.edu/cts>www1.umn.edu/cts).

PSRC (1996), The Costs of Transportation; 
Expenditures on Surface Transportation in the 
Central Puget Sound Region for 1995, Puget Sound 
Regional Council (<http://www.psrc.org/>www.psrc.org).

David Urbanczyk and Jeanette Corlett (1995), The 
Cost of Driving in the Chicago Metropolitan 
Region, Metropolitan Planning Council (Chicago), Working Paper No. 2.

ICLEI (1997), Uncovering Auto Subsidies: 
Calculating How Much Your Local Government Spends 
Subsidizing Cars, ICLEI 
(<http://www.iclei.org/co2/auto/cars.htm>www.iclei.org/co2/auto/cars.htm).

Martin Wachs (2003), Improving Efficiency and 
Equity in Transportation Finance, Brookings 
Institution 
(<http://www.brookings.edu/>www.brookings.edu), 
Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy 
(<http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/publications/wachstransportation.htm>www.brookings.edu/es/urban/publications/wachstransportation.htm).


Best wishes,
-Todd Litman

At 11:30 PM 10/7/2007, eric.britton wrote:
>1.       What is the cost to a city - to your city? - of a single say 3 km.
>car trip during the day?
>
>a.       For the usual mix: including explicit to the city costs (I guess
>that might be mainly road maintenance but there may be others that do not
>come immediately to mind) -- and also of course  the environmental and other
>external costs.
>
>b.      I understand that most of the costs will be in the latter categories
>- and I understand as well that these are not for the most part born by the
>city (as an accounting unit).
>
>c.       But still if I am a responsible 21st century mayor, I would want to
>know that number because it would help me make a lot of good decisions.
>
>d.      It might be handy to see these in a bit of detail, but it is really
>the bottom line number (and its explanation) that holds the key
>
>2.       It would be great if you could lend a hand with this.
>
>3.       And BTW, if I know this, then I can start to play with it in order
>to think about how the city might take an active role in financing a city
>bike project such as Vélib' or the one your mayor may be thinking about.
>
>
>
>Your good help in this will be your own reward,
>
>
>
>;-)
>
>
>
>PS. Again, if the Greening of Paris series and the in-process Vélib' policy
>brief interest you at all, this is to let you know that the latter is being
>updated about twice a day and that you can find it on the left menu at
>http://www.invent.newmobility.org. As indicated earlier, comments, etc. are
>warmly welcome. It looks as if we will have this fully in the bag by the end
>of the week, but it already is a pretty good read (I am told).
>
>


Sincerely,
Todd Alexander Litman
Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org)
litman at vtpi.org
Phone & Fax 250-360-1560
1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA
“Efficiency - Equity - Clarity”