ABSTRACT
‘Transport appraisal’ refers to a set of methods that are underpinned by economics and are widely used by governments and public bodies to support transport sector decision making. Many countries share what can be seen as a common ‘toolkit’ for transport appraisal, 1 although the scope of the appraisal and key components, such as the parameters, vary considerably. These tools can be found incorporated into national guidance on appraisal methods (e.g. Department for Transport (DfT), 2016); in international guidance, for example at the European Union (EU) level or the methods of the World Bank and other international financial institutions (Bickel et al., 2006; World Bank, 2005; European Investment Bank, 2005; Asian Development Bank, 2013); and crucially in appraisal practice across a large number of projects every year. Moreover, the applications of appraisal extend beyond investment projects to include regional transport strategies, national infrastructure plans and even road pricing and technological innovations. The scale of the initiatives being appraised ranges from the largest to the very small, and from international to local.
