Benefit and Cost Analysis of Intercity Bus Service
This paper describes the development and application of a benefit/cost analysis (BCA) model to support the evaluation of investment decisions for intercity bus services. The model recognizes two principle types of intercity bus benefits: benefits that accrue to users of the transportation system and benefits that accrue to local areas from the presence of intercity bus services. The model was implemented into a MS Excel spreadsheet application and was applied to case studies of proposed intercity bus routes in Wisconsin. The case studies considered three future scenarios envisioned for year 2030: (a) status quo plus a single proposed route; (b) status quo plus all proposed routes; and (c) status quo plus proposed intercity bus routes and high-speed rail. The analysis results, particularly in the form of net benefit value and benefit-cost ratio, can be used to help decision-makers prioritize the test routes based on their relative economic return on investment.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Guo, Jessica Y
- Zheng, Jie
- White, Kevin
- Gong, Qi
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2009-1-11 to 2009-1-15
- Date: 2009
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: DVD
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 22p
- Monograph Title: TRB 88th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Bus transportation; Buses; Case studies; Economics; High speed rail; Intercity bus lines; Local transportation; Public transit; Routes
- Geographic Terms: Wisconsin
- Subject Areas: Economics; Operations and Traffic Management; Public Transportation; I10: Economics and Administration;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01127207
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 09-3638
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: Apr 28 2009 8:08AM