DEVELOPMENT OF A SURVEY INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE SUBJECTIVE VALUATIONS OF NON-USE BENEFITS OF LOCAL PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICES

This paper stems from a research project concerned with estimating the value that a community places on its local public transport services over and above the benefits that are directly attributable to use. Among the concepts central to the work are those of option values, indirect benefits and altruistic values. Appraisal of public transport services, as currently practised in the U.K., relies almost exclusively on the calculation of operation costs and their comparison with user benefits. The hypothesis on which this work is based is that, in addition to the user benefits,there are substantial benefits which are not attributable to use and that, if these can be identified and quantified, then a more accurate measure of overall benefit will be possible.