How do citizens prioritize the accessibility goals of the Dutch national government against other transport goals? Results of a Participatory Value Evaluation

Abstract

The goals of transportation planning have been broadened in the last decades. Scholars increasingly argue to include goals such as reducing social exclusion and providing a minimal level of accessibility to all in the appraisal of transport policies. We conducted a Participatory Value Evaluation (PVE) with 6,784 Dutch citizens to investigate how different segments of the Dutch population prioritize these goals against other goals of transportation planning. In the PVE, participants indicated for 14 accessibility and mobility goals whether they thought a goal should receive more attention or less attention, subject to a budget constraint. We find that respondents recommend the government to pay the most attention to goals related to providing a basic level of accessibility for everyone such as ‘being able to access important facilities easily’, ‘being able to reach places affordably’ and ‘accessibility for people with disabilities’. Participants think that safeguarding these accessibility standards should be a core government task. They particularly prioritize improving accessibility to healthcare facilities such as hospitals and general practitioners. Participants think that the government should give relatively little attention to other goals such as ‘reducing travel times’, ‘being able to access different jobs’, ‘more pleasant and comfortable travel’ and ‘improving connections to other countries’. Many participants do not think that achieving such goals should be a core task of the government. They believe that the responsibility for achieving these goals lies more with citizens themselves, or with the market.