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Conditions and Performance Report Appendix HThe Costs and Benefits of Transit |
Conditions and Performance Chapter Listing Conditions and Performance Home Page Operating Costs by Policy Function
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The benefits of transit can also be classified by policy function. Exhibit H-3 arrays transit's benefits across the three market niches. These benefits and the methodology used to derive them can be summarized as follows:
These measurements are imprecise, representing an aggregation of benefits across a variety of circumstances. However, the scale and relative benefit amounts among transit's market niches are consistent with economic theory and with the willingness of local taxpayers to persistently support transit in serving these niches as worthwhile public policy functions.
Exhibit H-4 summarizes the per-trip costs, subsidies, and benefits of transit, according to the public policy functions described earlier. With a per-trip benefit of $11.66, location efficiency transit services appear to generate the greatest return for the lowest subsidy ($0.85). The total net benefit of location efficiency in 1995 was $9.82 per passenger. Congestion relief generated the least net benefit, $3.07. Basic mobility produced a per-trip benefit in the intermediate range of $6.44.
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