Documents

Consultation documents

We would like you to get involved in the development of this guidance to analyse transport schemes.

Guidance reflects the findings of current research, experience from professionals working in the area in the UK and in other countries. Through the consultation period, the documents in this section are under review and so we would like to hear from you where the advice may be improved.

Each document is expected to stay in the consultation section at least until the dates indicated. Documents in this section may change from time to time to reflect comments. Where changes have occurred, this will be noted in this section and old versions will be made available on request.

Consultation documents introduced from September 2009 onwards will be denoted by the suffix C in the TAG Unit number; eg Unit 3.5.6C.

Comments on WebTAG consultation documents listed below are welcome

Email: tasm@dft.gsi.gov.uk
or posted to:
Transport Appraisal and Strategic Modelling (TASM) Division
Department for Transport
Zone 2/25, Great Minster House
33 Horseferry Road
London SW1P 4DR

November 2011

We have restructured our Overview and Project Manager level guidance as part of a complete restructure of WebTAG that we are currently undertaking. The guidance has been targeted at specific audiences to improve its clarity and efficiency.

An Overview of Transport Appraisal
Guidance for the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO)
Guidance for the Technical Project Manager (TPM)

The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Friday 9 March 2012.

November 2011

We have introduced new guidance for Highway Assignment modelling. This brings together existing guidance from elsewhere on network building and validation standards. Guidance has been introduced on matrix estimation, in particular on the constraints within which it should be used.

TAG Unit 3.19C: Highway Assignment Modelling

The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Friday 9 March 2012.

November 2011

We have introduced new guidance for modelling Smarter Choices, and Parking and Park-and-Ride, in Variable Demand Models.

Smarter Choices consist of a number of measures aimed at reducing dependence on the private car. Although Smarter Choices measures have similar aims, the different measures require different modelling approaches. Measures which change travel time or generalised cost (“hard measures”) may be modelled using conventional models; “soft” measures which affect demand without changing the cost of travel may be modelled by adjusting behavioural parameters.

Comprehensive modelling of Parking and Park-and-Ride requires an appreciation of parking capacity constraints and parking charges. We recognise that modelling Parking and Park-and-Ride adds greatly to model complexity and run times and have aimed to make it clear that a proportional approach is important; it may not always be appropriate to model parking at all. A table is provided in an accompanying spreadsheet to show which features of parking modelling should ideally be incorporated in different circumstances, but this is only provided as a guide.

TAG Unit 3.10.6C: SmarterChoices
TAG Unit 3.10.7C: Modelling Parking and Park-and-Ride
Spreadsheet: Relevant Guidance for Modelling Parking

The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Friday 9 March 2012.

November 2011

We have updated the guidance on Rail Appraisal and Rail Forecasting:

TAG Unit 3.13.1C: Rail Appraisal
TAG Unit 3.15.4C: Rail Passenger Demand Forecasting Methodology

At the same time, the existing IN DRAFT TAG Unit 3.15.4D has been dropped.
The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Friday 9 March 2012.

November 2011

We have updated the guidance on vehicle operating costs and carbon emissions, to incoporate future projections of the use of electric cars:

TAG Unit 3.3.5C: The Greenhouse Gases Sub-Objective
TAG Unit 3.5.6C: Values of time and operating costs

Note that the numerical values given in these units may be subject to change before they are released in IN DRAFT status.

The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Friday 9 March 2012.

August 2011

TAG Unit 3.18c: Aviation Appraisal -- In Draft

The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Sunday 26 February 2012.

April 2011

Economic values for the analysis of air quality impacts have been produced by the Interdepartmental Group for Costs and Benefits, and accompanied and informed the Air Quality Strategy review in 2006. The approach to valuing changes in air quality for transport schemes is described in this TAG Unit. It is intended that this Unit will eventually replace both TAG Units 3.3.3 and 3.3.4.

TAG Unit 3.3.3C: The Air Quality Sub-Objective
Spreadsheet: Air Quality

The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Sunday 26 February 2012.

September 2009

We have updated the consultation guidance issued in April 2009 on the appraisal of Wider Impacts, and provided the Wider Impacts Economic Dataset in spreadsheet format.

TAG Unit 2.8C: Wider Impacts
TAG Unit 3.5.14C: The Wider Impacts Sub-Objective
Spreadsheet: Wider Impacts Economic Dataset

The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Sunday 26 February 2012.

September 2009

We have updated modelling and appraisal guidance on Proportionality in Appraisal. In some cases, this will affect the amount of modelling and appraisal effort required. We have produced four new documents that will eventually replace the existing TAG Unit 2.1.

TAG Unit 2.1.1C: The Steps in the Process - Overview
TAG Unit 2.1.2C: Option Development (Stage 1)
TAG Unit 2.1.3C: Further Appraisal (Stage 2)
TAG Unit 2.1.4C: Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation (Stage 3)

and the following units have been updated:

TAG Unit 1.1C: Introduction
TAG Unit 1.3C: Trunk Roads
TAG Unit 2.2C: Objectives and Problems
TAG Unit 2.4C: Summary Advice on Modelling
TAG Unit 2.5C: The Appraisal Process
TAG Unit 3.1.1C: Introduction to Modelling
TAG Unit 3.1.2C: Transport Models
TAG Unit 3.2C: Appraisal
TAG Unit 3.10.1C: Variable Demand Modelling - Preliminary Assessment (updated 13 October 2009)
TAG Unit 3.10.2C: Variable Demand Modelling - Scope of the Model
TAG Unit 3.10.3C: Variable Demand Modelling - Key Processes (updated 13 October 2009)

The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Sunday 26 February 2012.

TAG Unit 3.6.1C: The Option Values Sub-Objective

The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Sunday 26 February 2012.

The Department has released for consultation draft updated and expanded guidance on The Option Values Sub-Objective which will supersede the unit published in June 2003.

We have revised these road pricing guidance documents to reflect the comments we received during the consultation period. Of the five guidance documents, two are unchanged or only marginally altered. In the others, there are changes for clarification, some simplification and improvements to the structure of content. It is clear that the more advanced parts of the guidance have not yet been used by scheme promoters designing road pricing schemes. Because the draft guidance has not been fully tested, it remains in the Consultation section of the website. The Department welcomes comments on these revised drafts for consideration when the guidance is next revised.

The Department has released for consultation draft guidance on the modelling and appraisal of local road pricing schemes.

TAG Unit 2.12C: Introduction to Modelling and Appraisal for Road Pricing
TAG Unit 3.12.1C: Designing Efficient Local Road Pricing Schemes
TAG Unit 3.12.2C: Modelling Road Pricing
TAG Unit 3.12.3C: Appraisal of Road Pricing Options
TAG Unit 3.12.4C: Measuring the Social and Distributional Impacts of Road Pricing Schemes

The consultation period for this guidance will continue until at least Sunday 26 February 2012.

Updated: November 2011