Guide to COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS of investment projects - Ramiri

c) Road users producer’s surplus: the road users (cars and trucks) produce the services they supply tothemselves (car users) or to their customers (trucks). The difference between the total costs ofproducing these services and the VOC perceived is defined as unperceived operating costs 59 . Theseenter into the calculation of the road users surplus (Table 4.6).d) Government net revenues: thanks to the changes in distance travelled due to the re-routing of part ofthe existing traffic and to the generated traffic, the revenues from fuel taxes will increase, and theGovernment will increase its revenues. Part of this additional income and increased perceived costspaid by the users cancel each other out, but for the generated traffic this will represent a net benefitfor the project.e) Net environmental benefits: the shift of traffic flows from the existing network, (that runs across adensely populated and environmentally sensitive area), to the new motorway, (that crosses a ruralarea), generates a positive environmental externality despite the increase of air pollutants emissionsdue to a higher transport demand. Only the main pollutants have been taken into account for theevaluation of the environmental externalities. Two factors have been considered. The total amount ofenergy consumption and CO 2 emissions (as a function of the volume of vehicles’ kms, and the sharesof kms travelled in urban and non-urban areas). For air pollution, the monetary value applied to theemission in urban areas is higher than in non-urban areas as it is calculated on the basis of thepopulation exposed to it. Reference monetary values were derived from those explicitlyrecommended for the region by the national planning authority.f) Accident reduction: due to the diversion of traffic from the old road to the new one with a highersafety standard. From the available statistics the accident rates per million vehicles per km for roadand motorway are respectively 0.32 and 0.09. Therefore a reduction in accidents is foreseen due tothe diversion of traffic from the road network to the new motorway link. The values of statisticallives saved applied are those adopted by the national planning authority.The following tables report how some components of the project benefits have been calculated for themotorway opening year.Table 4.4 Generalised user costs (€)Generalised user costsBAU Free of charge TolledPassengersVOT/trip 6.45 4.83 5.42Perceived operating costs per trip 2.98 3.12 3.61Total generalised costs per trip 9.43 7.95 9.03FreightVOT/trip 8.93 5.83 7.28Perceived operating costs per trip 16.08 16.80 17.52Total per trip 25.01 22.64 24.8059For instance, in the case of car users maintenance costs, tyre consumptions and asset’s depreciation are not included in the perceived costs.134