- Infrastructure Australia had recently released guidelines on how it would prioritise requests for the available $20 billion of funding. A key feature of the guidelines was the inclusion of wider economic benefits in project evaluations. The meaning and implications of the guidelines was considered during the course.
Economic Evaluation of Transport Initiatives: Short Course
- Selected aspects of transport and economics theory
- Hands on evaluation of key aspects of simple and complex transport projects
- Proper specification of transport model outputs & use for correct benefit estimation
- Theory and practice of discounted cash flow analysis and application of risk analysis
- Interpretation of economic evaluation results
- Introduction to other forms of appraisal
- Comprehensive references, background readings & spreadsheet templates
Description:
Rising traffic congestion and concern for energy use and greenhouse emissions present a new dimension to urban transport evaluations. At the same time mega road and public transport projects are assuming prominence in urban transport plans in Australia and New Zealand. Dependent on the circumstances these mega projects can have perverse as well as positive effects on travel, energy use, and greenhouse gas and other emissions that are affected by the scale and distribution.
Transport modellers, analysts, strategic planners and policy makers who need to understand the principal relationships between transport demand analysis, environmental impacts and economic evaluation will find this course invaluable.
The course provided attendees with an understanding of the complex issues involved when evaluating urban transport initiatives that have network effects and which occur in the presence of rising traffic congestion. The course built on the standard approach to the planning and appraisal of land transport initiatives in Australia, as described in the “National Guidelines for Transport System Management in Australia” released in December 2006. These guidelines had been endorsed for general use by the Australian Transport Council (which comprises all Ministers for Transport). The Guidelines provide a standard framework describing processes, methods and tools to assist and guide transport planning and decision-making. The National Guidelines introduce new demands for the application of cost-benefit analysis to transport initiatives, covering both projects and policies.
The course outlined principles that underlie economic evaluation and the framework for applying it which gave participants an understanding of the context, objectives, approach and use of economic evaluation. The course also addressed other types of evaluation, in particular multi-criteria analysis that encompasses the objectives of triple-bottom line evaluation. The course introduced key features of the National Guidelines.
Insights were gained through discussion of practical issues such as the importance of the Base Case and its definition; estimation of project costs; use of market, perceived and resource prices; the role of generalised cost; valuation of benefits; identifying and valuing environmental impacts; the evaluation period; residual value; use and interpretation of evaluation criteria such as the benefit-cost ratio; and sensitivity testing. Participants reviewed economic evaluations of several road and public transport projects that had both isolated and network effects. Attention was drawn to the treatment of energy, climate change and other environmental impacts within the overall evaluation framework.
Traffic congestion and the impacts of congestion on public transport are growing challenges. Consideration was given to the implications of congestion for economic evaluation, and to the economic evaluation of measures that are intended to reduce it.
Finally, the course addressed the link between travel demand models and cost-benefit analysis. In particular it addressed the way in which data from the models needed to be used to correctly determine project benefits and errors that are commonly made in estimating these benefits.
The course had been presented ten times since 2000, both publicly and on an in-house basis. Participants received a set of course notes that elaborate on the subject matter presented in the course and which also contained case studies.
Who Should Attend:
The course was beneficial to staff of government agencies and consultants who were involved in planning and evaluation of transport initiatives, and for those who manage and use the results of such evaluations.
Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course attendees:
- had developed an appreciation of the role, scope and practice of economic evaluations;
- were aware of data needs for economic evaluations of transport initiatives;
- understood practical methods for evaluating road and public transport initiatives;
- had gone through the economic evaluation of several demonstration initiatives;
- were able to interpret the results of economic evaluations;
- could appreciate the differences between economic evaluations and other types of evaluation;
- recognised common errors in benefit-cost analysis; and
- understood the role and content of the recently re-released National Guidelines with regard to economic evaluation of transport initiatives.
Venue:
UQ Business School Downtown,
19th Floor, Central Plaza One,
345 Queen Street,
Brisbane,
Qld Australia