Sustainable public transportation from a total cost of ownership perspective

Abstract

Green transportation advocates decreasing use of private motor cars, the increasing use of walking, bicycle and public transport. Since the main factors for people who desire to travel are cost and time, the use of private cars has increased with significant negative impacts on environment. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is an analysis meant to uncover all the lifetime costs that follow from owning certain kinds of assets. In the near future, more people will be challenged to use a combined set of transports to minimize total transportation costs. In this study, a set of combined types of transportation (private cars, train and bus) was simulated by using a traffic simulation software and the TCO for a case of a route in the North of Portugal was calculated. Criteria for the evaluation of the different types of transportation included conventional cost of traveling (internal) and value of travel time and value of environmental aspects proceed by the CO2 emissions (external costs), all translated in monetary values using estimations of the value of time and of environmental impacts. The results showed the importance of the value of time estimation and confirmed public transportation as the best option under both conventional and extended TCO point of view.