Multicriteria versus Cost Benefit Analysis: a comparative perspective in the assessment of sustainable mobility

Background and aimThe paper focuses on the methodology for assessing Sustainable Mobility (SM) at the neighbourhood scale, and pays attention to two different ex-ante evaluation approaches: the Multicriteria Analysis (MCA) and the Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA). If MCA is an acknowledged technique for the assessment of sustainability at neighbourhood level, CBA is mainly used for infrastructure and large transformation projects. The aim of the paper is twofold: (i) highlight strengths and weaknesses of the two techniques, especially when assessing SM at the neighbourhoods scale; (ii) investigate the applicability of MCA and CBA to evaluate some relevant SM strategies and policies at the neighbourhood scale. To do so, a detailed description of MCA and CBA is presented and, when it exists, a review of their application to assess SM at neighbourhood level is described. Strengths and weaknesses of the approaches are, therefore, highlighted and their applicability to some specific SM measures are examined.Results and conclusionsIt results that the joint use of the two methodologies could overcome their mutual weaknesses, providing a coherent methodology for assessing both efficiency and effectiveness of SM policies and projects.

[1]  Daniel J. Graham,et al.  An evaluation of national road user charging in England , 2005 .

[2]  W. Walker.  Policy analysis: a systematic approach to supporting policymaking in the public sector , 2000 .

[3]  Tan Yigitcanlar,et al.  Developing a sustainability assessment model : the sustainable infrastructure, land-use, environment and transport model , 2010 .

[4]  R. Joumard,et al.  Indicators of environmental sustainability in transport , 2010 .

[5]  H. Gautier.  Economie et prévision , 2012 .

[6]  Stephen Marshall.  The Potential Contribution of Land Use Policies Towards Sustainable Mobility through Activation of Travel Reduction Mechanisms , 2000 .

[7]  Kerry Krutilla,et al.  Using the Kaldor‐Hicks Tableau Format for Cost‐Benefit Analysis and Policy Evaluation , 2005 .

[8]  Peter Nijkamp,et al.  Regional development and engineering creativity: an international comparison of science parks in a knowledge society , 1993 .

[9]  Maria Börjesson,et al.  The value of time and external benefits in bicycle cost-benefit analyses , 2010 .

[10]  Brian Caulfield,et al.  Estimating the Potential Success of Sustainable Transport Measures for a Small Town , 2010 .

[11]  Petter Næss.  Cost-Benefit Analyses of Transportation Investments: Neither critical nor realistic , 2006 .

[12]  Lisa Heinzerling,et al.  Pricing the Priceless: Cost-Benefit Analysis of Environmental Protection , 2002 .

[13]  Wim Wijnen,et al.  Valuation of road safety effects in cost-benefit analysis. , 2009, Evaluation and program planning.

[14]  Erling Holden.  Achieving Sustainable Mobility: Everyday and Leisure-time Travel in the EU , 2007 .

[15]  H. Campbell,et al.  Benefit-Cost Analysis: Financial and Economic Appraisal using Spreadsheets , 2003 .

[16]  P. Bolchi,et al.  Assessing sustainability in urban design: the ANP (Analytic Network Process) approach , 2010 .

[17]  H. Mohring.  Optimization and Scale Economies in Urban Bus Transportation , 1972 .

[18]  Ernest H. Forman,et al.  Multi Criteria Decision Making and the Analytic Hierarchy Process , 1990 .

[19]  Robert W. Hahn.  In Defense of The Economic Analysis of Regulation , 2005 .

[20]  Tristan Chevroulet.  EVA - TREN Improved decision-aid methods and tools to support EVAluation of investment for TRansport and ENergy networks in Europe , 2008 .

[21]  Ram M. Shrestha,et al.  MULTI-CRITERIA APPROACH FOR THE SELECTION OF ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN DELHI , 2003 .

[22]  Dominic Stead,et al.  The integration of land use planning, transport and environment in European policy and research , 2003 .

[23]  Johannes Bollen,et al.  Local air pollution and global climate change. A combined cost-benefit analysis. , 2009 .

[24]  B. Roy,et al.  The uses of cost–benefit analysis in public transportation decision-making in France , 2009 .

[25]  Paul Pfaffenbichler,et al.  Decision Makers' Guidebook Status: Public Procedures for Recommending Optimal Sustainable Planning of European City Transport Systems , 2003 .

[26]  J. Elíasson.  A cost–benefit analysis of the Stockholm congestion charging system , 2009 .

[27]  Eiji Ohno,et al.  Proposal of a benefit incidence matrix for urban development projects , 1995 .

[28]  C. Kennedy,et al.  Metabolism of Neighborhoods , 2008 .

[29]  Peter Nijkamp,et al.  Impact Assessment and Evaluation in Transportation Planning , 1994 .

[30]  Anthony D. May,et al.  The development of an option generation tool to identify potential transport policy packages , 2008 .

[31]  Michael A. P. Taylor,et al.  A CONSISTENT METHOD TO DETERMINE FLEXIBLE CRITERIA WEIGHTS FOR MULTICRITERIA TRANSPORT PROJECT EVALUATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES , 2005 .

[32]  Peter Loukopoulos,et al.  Sustainable Future Urban Mobility: Using ‘Area Development Negotiations’ for Scenario Assessment and Participatory Strategic Planning , 2004 .

[33]  Todd Alexander Litman,et al.  Sustainable Transportation Indicators: A Recommended Research Program For Developing Sustainable Transportation Indicators and Data , 2009 .

[34]  Elvira Haezendonck,et al.  Transport Project Evaluation , 2007 .

[35]  Peter Hills,et al.  MULTI-CRITERIA EVALUATION OF TRANSPORT OPTIONS: FLEXIBLE, TRANSPARENT AND USER-FRIENDLY? , 2003 .

[36]  Alejandro Tudela,et al.  Comparing the output of cost benefit and multi-criteria analysis: An application to urban transport investments , 2006 .

[37]  A. A. Rassafi,et al.  Sustainable transport indicators: Definition and integration , 2005 .

[38]  Scott Farrow,et al.  Using Environmental Benefit-Cost Analysis to Improve Government Performance , 1998 .

[39]  Sungwon Kang,et al.  Software architecture evaluation methods based on cost benefit analysis and quantitative decision making , 2009, Empirical Software Engineering.

[40]  Roger Vickerman,et al.  Recent Evolution of Research into the Wider Economic Benefits of Transport Infrastructure Investments , 2007 .

[41]  Scott Farrow,et al.  Using Benefit-Cost Analysis to Improve Environmental Regulations , 1999 .

[42]  Richard O. Zerbe,et al.  Benefit-cost analysis , 2008 .

[43]  Bertrand Zuindeau,et al.  Spatial approach to sustainable development: Challenges of equity and efficacy , 2006 .

[44]  Rodney Turner,et al.  Limits to CBA in UK and European environmental policy: retrospects and future prospects , 2007 .

[45]  Alessandra Oppio,et al.  An ex-post assessment of sustainable mobility: the case of European neighbourhoods , 2011 .

[46]  Daniel J. Graham.  Wider economic benefits of transport improvements - link between agglomeration and productivity - stage 2 report , 2006 .

[47]  Paolo Beria.  Effectiveness of mobility limitation policies against long term approaches in reduction of emitted pollutants , 2005 .

[48]  B. Roy,et al.  L'analyse Coûts-Avantages, outil de concertation et de légitimation , 2002 .

[49]  S. Wheeler,et al.  Regions, Megaregions, and Sustainability , 2009 .

[50]  H. Gudmundsson.  Making concepts matter: Sustainable mobility and indicator systems in transport policy , 2003 .

[51]  Vânia Barcellos Gouvêa Campos,et al.  Multi‐criteria analysis procedure for sustainable mobility evaluation in urban areas , 2009 .

[52]  T Pompili.  Valutazione economica ed interventi complessi di trasformazione urbana: un metodo operativo , 2006 .

[53]  Laurence Turcksin,et al.  The Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA) application in the Flemish long-term decision making process on mobility and logistics , 2010 .

[54]  J. Voogd,et al.  Multicriteria evaluation for urban and regional planning , 1982 .

[55]  C. Choguill.  Developing sustainable neighbourhoods , 2008 .

[56]  Andrea Mairate,et al.  The rationale for economic evaluation in Europe: the case of EU Regional Policy , 2010 .

[57]  Todd Litman,et al.  MEASURING TRANSPORTATION: TRAFFIC, MOBILITY, AND ACCESSIBILITY , 2003 .

[58]  R Evans,et al.  Central London congestion charging scheme - ex-post evaluation of the quantified impacts of the original scheme , 2007 .

[59]  David Pitfield,et al.  AN ECONOMIC AND OPERATIONAL EVALUATION OF URBAN CAR-SHARING , 2000 .

[60]  John Nellthorp,et al.  Transport project appraisal in the European Union , 2000 .

[61]  Yiik Diew Wong,et al.  A BEFORE-AND-AFTER STUDY ON RED-LIGHT CAMERA INSTALLATION , 2003 .

[62]  Milan Janic,et al.  Multicriteria Evaluation of High-speed Rail, Transrapid Maglev and Air Passenger Transport in Europe , 2003 .

[63]  H. Mohring,et al.  MAXIMIZING, MEASURING, AND NOT DOUBLE COUNTING TRANSPORTATION-IMPROVEMENT BENEFITS: A PRIMER ON CLOSED- AND OPEN-ECONOMY COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS. IN: URBAN TRANSPORT , 1993 .

[64]  David Banister,et al.  The economic development effects of transport investments , 2000 .

[65]  Peter Nijkamp,et al.  Regional development and engineering creativity , 1993 .

[66]  Dimitrios A Tsamboulas,et al.  EFECT – evaluation framework of environmental impacts and costs of transport initiatives , 2000 .

[67]  Rainer Friedrich,et al.  ACRONYM : ExternE-Pol TITLE : Externalities of Energy: Extension of accounting framework and Policy Applications , 2005 .

[68]  T. L. Saaty.  A Scaling Method for Priorities in Hierarchical Structures , 1977 .

[69]  Emmanuel Massé.  Analyse économique de la rentabilité des filtres à particules sur les véhicules diesels neufs , 2005 .

[70]  Dimitrios A Tsamboulas,et al.  Use of Multicriteria Methods for Assessment of Transport Projects , 1999 .

[71]  David Pitfield,et al.  ELASTIC – A methodological framework for identifying and selecting sustainable transport indicators , 2010 .

[72]  Otto Anker Nielsen,et al.  A socio-economic assessment of proposed road user charging schemes in Copenhagen , 2007 .

[73]  Joseph Persky,et al.  Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Classical Creed , 2001 .

[74]  Todd Litman,et al.  Developing Indicators for Comprehensive and Sustainable Transport Planning , 2005 .

[75]  K. Sælensminde.  COST-BENEFIT ANALYSES OF WALKING AND CYCLING TRACK NETWORKS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT INSECURITY, HEALTH EFFECTS AND EXTERNAL COSTS OF MOTORIZED TRAFFIC , 2004 .

[76]  R Elvik,et al.  Cost-benefit analysis of road safety measures: applicability and controversies. , 2001, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[77]  Cathy Macharis,et al.  The importance of stakeholder analysis in freight transport , 2004 .

[78]  Cathy Macharis,et al.  Multi-criteria Analysis as a Tool to Include Stakeholders in Project Evaluation: The MAMCA Method , 2007 .

[79]  K M Gwilliam,et al.  SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT: PRIORITIES FOR POLICY REFORM , 1996 .

[80]  Cjj Eijgenraam,et al.  EVALUATION OF INFRASTRUCTURAL PROJECTS: GUIDE FOR COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS , 2000 .

[81]  E. Marcucci,et al.  The urban road pricing scheme to curb pollution in Milan, Italy: Description, impacts and preliminary cost-benefit analysis assessment , 2010 .

[82]  Eda Beyazit,et al.  Achieving Sustainable Mobility—Everyday and Leisure-time Travel in the EU , 2011 .

[83]  Angela Hull,et al.  Policy integration: What will it take to achieve more sustainable transport solutions in cities , 2008 .

[84]  Peter Nijkamp,et al.  Qualitative multiple criteria choice analysis : the dominant regime method , 1986 .

[85]  Cheng-Wei Lin,et al.  Multi-criteria analysis of alternative-fuel buses for public transportation , 2005 .

[86]  Itf.  The Wider Economic Benefit of Transport: Macro-, Meso and Micro Transport Planning and Investment Tools , 2008 .

[87]  Peter Nijkamp,et al.  Qualitative multiple criteria choice analysis , 1990 .

[88]  A. Venables.  Evaluating Urban Transport Improvements: Cost-Benefit Analysis in the Presence of Agglomeration and Income Taxation , 2004 .

[89]  Ila Maltese,et al.  Mobilità sostenibile in Europa: il ruolo della partecipazione alla scala di quartiere , 2011 .

[90]  N. Nugent,et al.  European Commission , 1993, European Energy and Environmental Law Review.