Valuing public transport customer amenities: a survey of practice across Australasian and international transit agencies

Public transport customer amenities cover a range of ancillary improvements which are not directly related to operations or service quantity but can enhance the quality of the passenger experience. Examples include information provision, passenger facilities, station/stop quality and personal security measures. While much research has determined the value that public transport users place on different types of amenities, there is little understanding of current practice in the use of customer amenity valuations. The aim of this research was to understand current practice across public transport agencies in estimating and applying public transport customer amenity valuations. A survey of public transport agencies in 11 cities (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Auckland, London, Paris, Toronto, Vienna, Oslo and Singapore) was undertaken showing that Australasian cities, albeit Melbourne, generally have widespread inclusion of customer amenities as part of public transport project appraisals. Australasian practice tends to include customer amenities more frequently in project appraisal than London, Singapore and Oslo. Paris, Toronto and Vienna, although they adopt advanced appraisals for some projects, rarely (if at all) include customer amenities in these appraisals. While agencies generally use published sources of customer amenity values specific to their country, Toronto and Singapore tend to use customer amenity values from London.