How do I want the city council to spend our budget? Conceiving MaaS from a citizen's perspective … (as well as biking infrastructure and public transport)

While several governmental and research efforts are set upon mobility-as-a-service (MaaS), most of them are driven by individual travel behavior and potential usage. However, considering only individuals’ preferences carries the risk of neglecting societal benefits going beyond individual travel behavior. This study addresses the valuation of...

Measuring activity-based social segregation using public transport smart card data

While social segregation is often assessed using static data concerning residential areas, the extent to which people with diverse background travel to the same destinations may offer an additional perspective on the extent of urban segregation. This study further contributes to the measurement of activity-based social segregation between...

Measuring activity-based Social Segregation using Public Transport Smart Card Data

While social segregation is often assessed in terms of one socio-geographic space, usually place of residence, more recent approaches also incorporate activity-based and, in particular, mobility-based data. This study extends the use of mobility data to measure social segregation between multiple groups by developing a method to connect socio...

Contrasting the recommendations of participatory value evaluation and cost-benefit analysis in the context of urban mobility investments

Participatory Value Evaluation (PVE) is a new method to assess the desirability of government projects. In a PVE, individuals select their preferred portfolio of government projects given a constrained public budget. Individuals’ preferences for (the impacts of) government projects can be determined based on these choices. The obtained...

The value of travel time, noise pollution, recreation and biodiversity: A social choice valuation perspective

Environmental effects of transport projects have a weak position in Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) which might be rooted in the valuation approach adopted in the dominant style of CBA. This conventional valuation approach has been criticized for not valuing positive and negative impacts of transport projects in relation to each other and for not...

The consumer-citizen duality: Ten reasons why citizens prefer safety and drivers desire speed

Cost-benefit analyses for transportation projects usually value impacts on safety and travel time through experiments in which consumers of mobility (‘drivers’) choose between routes which differ in safety and travel time. This approach has been criticized for failing to consider that private choices may not fully reflect citizens’...

A critical assessment of discounting policies for transport cost-benefit analysis in five European practices

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) has a long tradition as a broadly-used instrument for assessing transport infrastructure investments. In a CBA, the discount rate often determines whether a project passes the benefit-cost test. One concern is that literature on the subject offers widely differing recommendations regarding which discount rate...

Dutch politicians’ use of cost–benefit analysis

28 Dutch politicians and 10 top-level civil servants were interviewed about the way Dutch politicians use cost–benefit analysis (CBA). Various types of use were identified. Politicians use CBA: (1) When forming their opinion about the desirability of transport projects; (2) As political ammunition (opportunistic use); (3) To make themselves...

Towards improved handling of uncertainty in cost-benefit analysis: Addressing the ‘price-quality’ and ‘communication’ dilemmas

An important limitation of Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is the inherent uncertainty in estimations of future welfare effects. In this paper, we argue that consideration of the ‘price-quality’ dilemma and the ‘communication’ dilemma is useful to explain and improve the handling of uncertainty in CBA. The ‘price-quality’ dilemma refers to the trade...

Cost-Benefit Analysis in Practice

In most western countries Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is used to inform decision makers about positive and negative effects for society of transport policy options. However, the way CBA is perceived by different key individuals that use, carry out or study CBAs has received scant attention in the literature. This thesis aims to fill four...