The measurement of passenger preferences towards rail station and on-train facilities

This study is concerned with the provision of passenger facilities, such as catering or information, at rail stations and on trains. It takes the premise that appraisal methods vised by rail operators and planners for evaluating investment in such facilities are limited. The result can be under-investment in such facilities. It makes the case that such facilities are important devices for inproving the quality of rail travel and that under-investment in facilities implies reduced demand for rail services. It is suggested that stated preference (SP) techniques, already applied to this topic on a number of occasions, are effective methods for measuring the monetary equivalent values of passenger facilities. These values can be inserted into investment appraisal methods based on financial criteria or cost-benefit analysis. However, previous applications of SP techniques have exhibited a number of weaknesses, which have called into question the plausibility of some of the values that have been obtained. This study reports on research on the London Underground, investigating the potential introduction of a range of improvements to passenger facilities on the Northern Line. In this original work, discrete choice SP methods were used to measure the values of these improvements in a way that will produce more plausible results, it is argued, than those derived from earlier SP applications. The research showed that appreciably lower valuations were obtained with this method.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

1993

Author dc:creator

• Pearmain, David

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jones, Mervyn

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/p9br-3851

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:38217696-e043-48f7-9b0d-139e5cded975:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1