ASSESSING THE COMMERCIAL BENEFITS OF IMPROVING STATION FACILITIES AND INFORMATION PROVISION

Whilst there is plenty of evidence on the value rail users place on variables such as journey time and frequency, relatively little information exists in relation to 'soft' variables such as station facilities and information provision. As a result Halcrow Fox and Associates and the Institute for Transport Studies were commissioned by Regional Railways in September 1992 to quantify in monetary terms the benefits of enhancements to information and station facilities. The approach involved qualitative research, an extensive literature review and the use of a range of market research based techniques including both willingness to pay and more sophisticated stated preference techniques involving 'within' and 'between' mode experiments. The results show that some previous research may have tended to overvalue station improvements and information provision. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD 866258.