Method for an economical assessment of urban transport systems

This paper presents an intermodal method for identifying municipal expenses and revenues in the transport sector and allocates them to the urban transport systems: pedestrian, bicycle, car, truck traffic and local public transport. The method is based on full cost accounting, in that the total transport-related costs are allocated to the urban transport systems based on a top-down-approach. The method is centred on the development of allocation keys and attribution factors based on scientific engineering findings. For a complete economic comparison, various assessment methods are presented, taking the most important transport-related external effects into account (accident costs, air pollution costs, climate change costs, noise costs and health benefits in walking and cycling). The external effects have been based on existing national and international methods, which are monetised with corresponding (accepted) cost factors from the appropriate scientific literature. The method allows cost transparency and determines economic indicators that can serve as a basis for discussion and decision-making in the allocation of funds for the different urban transport systems. Besides that, it can be used directly to seek out goal indicators in urban development and transportation planning. With the approach presented here, for the first time municipalities will be able to have a complete overview of their transport-related revenues, expenses and external effects, differentiated each by urban transport system. This results in an additional and important instrument for strategic transportation planning and a next step on the road to ‘true costs in the transport sector’.