2002 - Finland - Guidlines for ITS Evaluations

This report contains the guidelines for the evaluation of ITS projects for the purpose of comparing ITS projects to one another and to other transport projects with regard to their impacts and economic feasibility.

The guidelines deal with both pre- and post-evaluations. The report has been updated from the version developed in the TETRA programme three years earlier. The guidelines present a systematic method for evaluating the projects so that all essential factors for decision making are investigated. The guidelines are based on the YHTALI framework generally used in Finland for project appraisal, and they apply the YHTALI template for presenting the results. The guidelines were developed as a part of the Finnish National R&D Programme on ITS Infrastructures and Services FITS.

The guidelines present extensive checklists of the possible impacts of ITS systems on the transport systems and their users as well as all the actors linked to logistics systems. Lists of indicators and their estimation methods cover seven different impact categories: 1) transport network and its costs, 2) fleet and its costs, 3) accessibility, 4) time and predictability, 5) safety, 6) noise, emissions and energy, and 7) valuations and comfort. The use of specific primary indicators is recommended.

The economic feasibility analyses can build on a cost benefit analysis or a profitability calculation. In addition, multi-criteria analyses and verbal assessments should be used. For studying the feasibility of the implementation of the projects, the guidelines present checklists for market assessment, human-machine interface analyses, and technological, technical, financial, legal and organisational aspects.

The guidelines for the evaluation of logistics projects emphasise the main objective of these projects, which is to enhance the competitiveness of the companies. The Du Pont model applied acts as an impact checklist while at the same time it produces an estimate of the magnitude of the impacts.

To make the use of the guidelines as easy as possible, examples of their application are given for four ITS projects. The example projects deal with 1) traffic and road weather monitoring, 2) timing management in the delivery of goods from ports to wholesale stores, 3) signal priorities for buses, and multimodal route guidance. As a conclusion, the report lists the further development needs for evaluation in general, and especially for evaluation guidelines and methods.

A workbook to use with these guidelines can be downloaded here.