United States Department of Transportation
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Edition:Final Report September 2010 to December 2011
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Abstract:This report presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of the costs and benefits of providing public transit in South Dakota. To facilitate the assessment, transit providers operating in the state are grouped into four categories. This categorization reflects in particular the system size, the system usage and key socioeconomic characteristics of transit riders. A taxonomy of the different social benefits and economic impacts of public transit is provided along with a detailed methodology to quantify them. Social benefits are estimated by analyzing the effects on society of not providing transit service. The contribution of public transit to the state economy is measured using data on transit capital and operating expenses. The results are presented at the statewide level and for each transit category. To account for uncertainty, the analysis is conducted within a risk analysis framework where model parameters are defined by a range of estimates. The study indicates that the benefits to society and to the economy of providing public transit in South Dakota not only are significant, but also outweigh the costs, thereby confirming it is a sound public investment. The study also recognizes the existence of less tangible or less apparent benefits, especially in rural settings, such as community cohesion benefits, relocation cost savings and the provision of transportation service during emergencies, either natural or man-made. These other benefits are briefly discussed but are not computed because they are difficult to quantify and to monetize. Therefore, the results presented here can be considered as somewhat conservative.
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