(2017). Transport equity analysis. Transport Reviews: Vol. 37, Equity in Transport, pp. 139-151.

The growing interest in the equity dimensions of transport planning has resulted in increasing criticism on the dominant assessment methodology of transport projects: cost–benefit analysis (CBA). In this paper, we focus on travel time savings, given their importance in the assessment of transport projects and the sometimes fierce equity-related citicism on their inclusion in project appraisal. We identify five equity effects related to the use of travel time savings in CBA. Each of these equity effects implies that transport projects serving the majority population are highly likely to perform better in CBA than comparable projects serving disadvantaged population groups. We subsequently explore whether the replacement of travel time savings by accessibility gains can address the identified equity effects. We observe that this only holds for two of the five equity effects, while a third effect can be mitigated through the introduction of the notion of diminishing marginal return in the valuation of accessibility gains. We conclude that the mere introduction of accessibility gains is in itself insufficient to address all equity effects related to the application of travel time savings within the CBA framework.

The introduction of shared autonomous vehicles into the transport system is suggested to bring significant impacts on traffic conditions, road safety and emissions, as well as overall reshaping travel behaviour. Compared with a private autonomous vehicle, a shared automated vehicle (SAV) is associated with different willingness-to-adopt and willingness-to-pay characteristics. An important aspect of future SAV adoption is the presence of other passengers in the SAV—often people unknown to the cotravellers. This study presents a cross-country exploration of user preferences and WTP calculations regarding mode choice between a private non-autonomous vehicle, and private and shared autonomous vehicles. To explore user preferences, the study launched a survey in seven European countries, including a stated-preference experiment of user choices. To model and quantify the effect of travel mode attributes and socio-demographic characteristics, the study employs a mixed logit model. The model results were the basis for calculating willingness-to-pay values for all countries and travel modes, and provide insight into the significant heterogeneous, gender-wise effect of cotravellers in the choice to use an SAV. The study results highlight the importance of analysis of the effect of SAV attributes and shared-ride conditions on the future acceptance and adoption rates of such services.

The paper identifies the potential spatial and social impacts of a proposed road-pricing scheme for different social groups in the Madrid Metropolitan Area (MMA). We appraise the accessibility of different districts within the MMA in terms of the actual and perceived cost of using the road infrastructure ‘before’ and ‘after’ implementation of the scheme. The appraisal framework was developed using quantitative survey data and qualitative focus group discussions with residents. We then simulated user behaviours (mode and route choice) based on the empirical evidence from a travel demand model for the MMA. The results from our simulation model demonstrated that implementation of the toll on the orbital metropolitan motorways (M40, M30, for example) decreases accessibility mostly in the districts where there are no viable public transport alternatives.\ud \ud Our specific study finding is that the economic burden of the road-pricing scheme particularly affects unskilled and lower income individuals living in the south of the MMA. The focus groups confirmed that low income drivers in the south part of the MMA would reduce their use of tolled roads and have to find new arrangements for these trips: i.e. switch to public transport, spend double the time travelling or stay at home. More generally, our research finds that European transport planners are still a long way from recognising the social equity implications of their policy decisions and that more thorough social appraisals are needed to avoid the social exclusion of low income populations when road tolling is proposed