An Introduction to Transport Analysis

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Background

The government uses a significant proportion of national resources providing services such as health, defence, the police and transport facilities. The government, and the nation as a whole, wants to make sure that there is value for money from investments in these services. Appraisal is the term used to describe the method of checking that such value for money is achieved.

Transport Appraisal and the Study Process

The guidance to carrying out appraisal in Government is found in The Green Book, Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government 1 , the latest version of which was released in January 2003.

The Green Book aims to make the appraisal process throughout government consistent and transparent, ensuring that no course of action is adopted without first having the answer to these questions:

  • Are there better ways to achieve the aims or objectives?
  • Does it provide value for money?

The appraisal of transport is consistent with the approach set out in the Green Book. In particular it is applied such that decisions are even handed across modes (e.g. rail, road, cycling, walking, etc.) and take account of all effects (not only direct transport effects).

It is described as the New Approach to Appraisal (NATA) and was introduced in the Government's White paper 'A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone' 2 .

The NATA process requires a number of steps to be taken prior to the formal appraisal process. These steps are usually defined as a 'transport study', and typically should include:

  • agreement on a set of project specific objectives which the solution should seek to satisfy, these likely to be a subset of the Government objectives outlined above;
  • analysis of present and future problems on, or relating to, the transport system;
  • exploration of potential solutions for solving the problems and meeting the objectives;
  • appraisal of potential solutions, seeking combinations which perform better as a whole than the sum of the individual components; and
  • selection and phasing of the preferred solution, taking account of the views of the public and transport providers.

The Governments Five Objectives for Transport

Throughout the NATA process the Government five objectives for transport as outlined in the White paper are central:

  • Environmental impact: that involves reducing the direct and indirect impacts of transport facilities on the environment of both users and non-users. There are 10 sub-objectives including noise, atmospheric pollution of differing kinds, and impacts on the countryside, wildlife, ancient monuments and historic buildings;
  • Safety: that is concerned with reducing the loss of life, injuries and damage to property resulting from transport incidents and crime. The 2 sub-objectives are to reduce accidents and improve security;
  • Economy: that is concerned with improving the economic efficiency of transport. The 5 sub-objectives are to improve economic efficiency for consumers and for business users and providers of transport, to improve reliability and the wider economic impacts, and to get good value for public money;
  • Accessibility: that is concerned with the ability with which people can reach different locations and facilities by different modes; and
  • Integration: that aims to ensure that all decisions are taken in the context of the Government's integrated transport policy.

Appraisal of Options

The appraisal output in NATA is made up of four distinct parts:

  • Appraisal Summary Table (achievement of Government objectives)
  • Achievement of regional and local objectives
  • Effectiveness of problem solving
  • Supporting analyses

These four strands when considered together provide the decision-maker with the information needed to reach a considered judgement on the worth of a project.

The Appraisal Summary Table

This is a one page summary of the impacts of a transport solution on the Government's objectives for transport.

An Appraisal Summary Table (AST) is produced for each solution considered and sets out the consequences of different solutions using the five objectives. Some of these objectives have been divided into a number of sub-objectives as described earlier, reflecting the wide variety of impacts arising from transport projects.

It is from this AST that a judgement would be made about the overall value for money of the option in achieving the Government's objectives. The information in the AST will enable a consistent view to be taken about the value of the project.

It is not intended that the AST will itself be sufficient for decision making. It does not provide a complete picture, with important factors covered by other strands in the appraisal process.

Regional and Local Objectives

As part of the process, specific regional and local objectives will be set. These will reflect at least some of the Government's five objectives for transport, but will be more detailed and specific to the area being considered.

These objectives will be specific to each area, so there is no requirement for them to be the same in all appraisals. It is likely that local indicators or targets will be set against which to measure the performance of solutions.

The results of this analysis should be summarised in a form similar to the AST, showing how each option has fared against particular regional and local objectives.

Effectiveness of Problem Solving

At an early stage in the process, the current and future transport related problems will have been identified. An assessment of the extent to which the problems identified would be solved by the option proposed needs to be made considering both absolute and relative performance against key indicators. By their nature these objectives are likely to be closely related the regional and local objectives, however further sub-objectives may be required to reflect the specific nature of the problem being considered.

It is usual to show the problem solving results on a map base, summarising the problem identified and the effectiveness of the option against the indicators chosen.

Supporting Analyses

Supporting analyses cover three additional groups of issues:

  • distribution and equity which shows the distribution (by area, across modes, etc.) of the impacts of the solution;
  • affordability and financial sustainability shows the funding, etc. of the solution identifying public and private sector input; and
  • practicality and public acceptability which follows a checklist to provide assessments (these include measures of feasibility, area of interest, complexity, time scale, phasing, political nature of solution)

Transport Analysis Guidance

The latest advice on transport analysis is set out on the Transport Analysis Guidance website (http://www.webtag.org.uk/).

1 The Green Book, Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government, HM Treasury, January 2003

2 ‘A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone’, Department of Environment Transport and the Regions, July 1998.