www.vtpi.org [email protected] 250-508-5150 Evaluating Public Transit Benefits and Costs Best Practices Guidebook 31 August 2021 Todd Litman Victoria Transport Policy Institute Abstract This guidebook describes how to create a comprehensive framework for evaluating the full impacts (benefits and costs) of a particular transit service or improvement. It identifies various categories of impacts and how to measure them. It discusses best practices for transit evaluation and identifies common errors that distort results. It discusses the travel impacts of various types of transit system changes and incentives. It describes ways to optimize transit benefits by increasing system efficiency, increasing ridership and creating more transit oriented land use patterns. It compares automobile and transit costs, and the advantages and disadvantages of bus and rail transit. It includes examples of transit evaluation, and provides extensive references. Many of the techniques in this guide can be used to evaluate other modes, such as ridesharing, cycling and walking. Todd Alexander Litman © 1996-2021 You are welcome and encouraged to copy, distribute, share and excerpt this document and its ideas, provided the author is given attribution. Please send your corrections, comments and suggestions for improvement. Evaluating Public Transit Benefits and Costs Victoria Transport Policy Institute Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 2 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 4 Public Transit’s Role in an Efficient and Equitable Transportation System ................................ 5 The Importance of Comprehensive Analysis .............................................................................. 8 Evaluation Best Practices ................................................................................................ 9 Evaluating Transit Service Quality ................................................................................. 11 Travel Impacts ............................................................................................................... 13 Transit Demand ............................................................................................................. 17 Transit Impact Categories ............................................................................................. 23 Transit Expenditures ................................................................................................................. 23 Impacts on Existing Transit Users ............................................................................................. 24 Mobility Benefits ........................................................................................................................ 25 Efficiency Benefits ..................................................................................................................... 29 Travel Time Impacts .................................................................................................................. 56 Land Use Impacts ..................................................................................................................... 59 Economic Development Impacts ............................................................................................... 62 Impact Summary ....................................................................................................................... 67 Evaluating and Quantifying Transit Benefits .................................................................. 70 Comparing Transit and Automobile Costs ..................................................................... 73 Perspectives .............................................................................................................................. 76 Common Errors Made When Comparing Transit and Automobile Transport ........................... 79 Transit Versus Automobile Comparison Summary ................................................................... 80 Evaluating Transit Criticism ........................................................................................... 81 Is Transit Travel Slow and Inefficient? ...................................................................................... 83 Is It Cheaper To Subsidize Cars Instead Of Transit? ............................................................... 85 Rail Versus Bus Transit ................................................................................................. 86 Advantages of Rail .................................................................................................................... 86 Advantages of Bus .................................................................................................................... 87 Summary of Rail Versus Bus .................................................................................................... 87 Strategies To Increase Transit Benefits ......................................................................... 90 Transit Priority ........................................................................................................................... 90 Parking Management ................................................................................................................ 90 Commute Trip Reduction Programs .......................................................................................... 90 Campus and School Transport Management Programs........................................................... 91 Marketing and User Information ................................................................................................ 91 Nonmotorized Improvements .................................................................................................... 91 Transit Oriented Development .................................................................................................. 91 Least Cost Planning .................................................................................................................. 91 Evaluation Examples ..................................................................................................... 92 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 109 References And Resources For More Information ....................................................... 112 1 Evaluating Public Transit Benefits and Costs Victoria Transport Policy Institute Executive Summary Public transit (also called public transport or mass transit) includes various services that provide mobility to the general public, including buses, trains, ferries, shared taxi, and their variations. It can play important and unique roles in an efficient and equitable transport system by providing affordable basic mobility for non-drivers, efficient urban travel, and a catalyst for more efficient land use development. It can therefore have diverse impacts (benefits and costs), including many that are indirect and external (they affect people who do not currently use transit). Some result from the existence of the service, others from transit use, some from reduced automobile travel, and others from transit’s ability to affect land use development patterns, as summarized in Table ES-1. Not all transit services have all of these impacts, but most have several. Table ES-1 Public Transport Benefits and Costs Improved Transit Increased Transit Reduced Transit-Oriented Service Travel Automobile Travel Development s Service Quality (speed, Transit Ridership Mode Shifts or Portion of Development reliability, comfort, safety, (passenger-miles or Automobile Travel With TOD Design Metric etc.) mode share) Reductions Features Improved convenience Reduced traffic and comfort for existing Mobility benefits to congestion. Additional vehicle users. new users. travel reductions Road and parking (“leverage effects”). Equity benefits (since Increased fare facility cost savings. existing users tend to be revenue. Improved accessibility, disadvantaged). Consumer savings. particularly for non- Increased public fitness Benefits Reduced drivers. Option value (the value of and health (by having an option for chauffeuring Community cohesion stimulating more burdens. possible future use). walking or cycling and reduced crime risk. Increased traffic Potential Improved operating trips). More efficient safety. efficiency (if service speed Increased security as development (reduced increases). more non-criminals Energy conservation. infrastructure costs). Improved security ride transit and wait at Air and noise Farmland and habitat (reduced crime risk) stops and stations. pollution reductions. preservation. Higher capital and operating costs, and therefore subsidies. Costs Land and road space. Traffic congestion and Various problems Potential accident risk imposed by Transit vehicle Reduced automobile associated with more transit vehicles. crowding. business activity. compact development. Public transport can have various types of benefits and costs, many of which tend to be overlooked or undervalued in conventional transportation economic evaluation. Conventional transport economic evaluation tends to overlook and undervalue many transit benefits. These evaluation practices originally developed to assess roadway improvements and