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Establishing National Priorities for Rail Transit Investments
Author(s) -
Marshment Richard S.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
policy studies journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1541-0072
pISSN - 0190-292X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1541-0072.1993.tb01826.x
Subject(s) - transit (satellite) , measure (data warehouse) , investment (military) , transport engineering , rail transit , process (computing) , business , index (typography) , selection (genetic algorithm) , computer science , public transport , engineering , political science , operating system , database , artificial intelligence , politics , world wide web , law
The analysis assesses impacts on urban rail transit investment priorities resulting from use of different evaluation measures. To illustrate the effect of alternative evaluation methodologies, proposed fixed guideway projects from five U.S. cities are ranked according to five measures of project merit. The study concludes that the current Federal Transit Administration rail transit evaluation measure is biased against projects designed to serve long‐distance travelers and designed to improve conditions for existing transit patrons. The FTA measure may also result in inferior project selection and can be difficult to interpret in certain common situations. Recommendations are offered on ways to improve the existing evaluation process. The study identifies a potential replacement index for the current federal cost effectiveness measure.