A COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF TRAVEL BLENDING

Abstract

Travel blending is a recently developed technique aimed at reducing the impact of the car. Travel diaries are used to observe a household's travel patterns, with customised changes then suggested to the household which would reduce the impact of its car use. A number of travel blending trials in Adelaide, South Australia, over the past 3 years have shown very promising results. The Adelaide initiative has consisted of two trials of 100 and 329 households, and a further 900-household trial currently being undertaken in the Adelaide suburb of Dulwich. This paper reports the results of an economic cost benefit analysis of the travel blending initiative. Using the travel reduction results from the 329-household Adelaide trial, an analysis is undertaken of the 900-household Dulwich trial. The quantified benefits consist of travel time savings, vehicle operating cost reductions, accident savings, environmental benefits and network congestion reduction benefits. The cost analysis includes consideration of initial survey costs, follow up costs which might be required on annual and 5 yearly cycles, and any costs incurred by the household. The paper reports net present value and benefit cost ratio results for a range of input parameters scenarios. The paper also attempts to extrapolate these results to the case where travel blending might be applied on a city wide basis in Adelaide. The overall conclusion that the paper draws is that travel blending appears, at least on the basis of the analysis reported here, to be a sound initiative and investment from an economic cost benefit perspective. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD E200461.

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