We have a transit cost benefit model that is available for alpha testing. If you’d like to get a early copy of the Business Case Evaluator for Transit please email me, John Parker at john.parker@impactinfrastructure.com.

At Impact Infrastructure we go through a research, prototyping, and development process to develop AutoCASE for infrastructure projects. After a literature review we build an Excel prototype. This is a fully functioning, stand-alone, cost benefit and risk analysis model. After testing it internally we ask industry experts to give it a try. Then we make any revisions and release it to the industry for use. We call the Excel workbooks the Business Case Evaluator. We have one available for stormwater projects. This new one is for transit. Once the testing is done we hand the model over to our development team to code into a scalable, sharable, speedy cloud-based AutoCASE module.

Results in the model are presented as Sustainable Net Present Value (S-NPV) as well as traditional financial NPV. Financial and Sustainable Return on Investment (ROI) and payback periods are also calculated. As with the AutoCASE, all results are the product of Monte Carlo simulation and so are presented in probabilistic terms.

In early versions of the BCE for Transit we had a traffic simulator built in but have decided not to include it as we saw the uses of AutoCASE (and the BCE) being using the output from a micro-simulation or four-step transportation planning model. Also AutoCASE will be linked to some of the exciting land-use planning and transportation simulations in Autodesk. These are truly exciting and will make AutoCASE for Transit a wonderfully rich visual planning and design tool.

The documentation and AutoCASE version will be out shortly but now is your chance to kick the tyres (and the tires) and give us your feedback.

The BCE for Transit is the product of a lot of research as you will see from the list of costs and benefits below. We have tried to be mutually exclusive and comprehensively exhaustive (MECE) in the development. Here are the benefit categories in our alpha version of the BCE for Transit:

• Air Pollution
• Avoided Road Facilities Costs
• CO₂ Emissions Reduction
• Low Income Mobility Benefit
• Noise Pollution Reduction
• Oil Consumption Externality
• Parking Cost Savings
• Perception of Safety Benefit
• Personal Value of Active Transportation
• Property Value Uplift
• Reduced Accident Risk Benefit
• Shadow Wage Benefit
• Social Value of Active Transportation Benefiit
• Value of Reliability
• Value of Travel Time Savings
• Change in One Time Subsidies/Grants
• Change in Recurring Subsidies/Grants
• Change in Non-Farebox Revenues

And here are the costs:

• Avoided Alternative CapEx Costs
• Capital Expenditures
• Change in Employee Costs
• Change in O&M Costs
• Change in Energy Costs
• Change in Employee Costs
• Change in Non Energy & Employee Costs
• Change in Other Costs
• Ownership – Fixed Vehicle Costs
• Ownership – Vehicle Operating Costs
• Decommissioning Costs

We also have transfers that benefit one group or sector but net out of the overall societal net benefit

• (+) Change in Farebox Revenue
• (-) Change in Farebox Payments
• (-) Change in Employee Costs (from Capital Expenditures and Change in O&M Costs)
• (+) Net After Tax Wage Transfer + Net Income Tax Transfer

There is a stakeholder account breakdown:

• Direct Financial Value
• Government or Taxpayer
• User / Target-Beneficiary or Customer Service
• Economic or Business Activity
• Environmental
• Community or Other

As well as an Envision category breakdown:

• Quality of Life
• Leadership
• Resource Allocation
• Natural World
• Climate