Transportation planning and public policy

Abstract

This book reviews British transportation planning in recent years. The first chapter presents the framework in which transport planning is done: its purpose, scope and organisation. Examples of planning for parts and local airports are given. The second chapter suggests that planning policy should precede analysis and that in the past the MOT's approach was wrong. Chapter three describes the objectives of planning policy. Several examples of cost-benefit analysis show that the object of a planning exercise should be decided at the start, decisions being taken as to those items which should count as benefits, those which should count as costs, and the way in which they should be accounted. Recent transport plans have accounted for intangibles, non-user benefits, service levels, as well as profits and consumers' surplus. The fourth chapter shows how attitudes have changed to policies such as car restraint, and promotion of public transport. Such alternatives must be included in the planner's brief. Chapter five looks in detail at the methodology of transport planning. Trip generation, modal split, trip distribution and route assignment are discussed, with evidence of recent advances in each aspect. The last chapter presents the major problems facing transport planning in the future, such as how to define criteria for system-wide testing of a wide range of policies.