Evaluating accessibility enhancements to public transport including indirect as well as direct benefits

It is recognised that the beneficiaries of accessible transport services and facilities are not limited to elderly and disabled people, yet the benefits to ordinary people and transport operators have seldom been considered. Based on London Underground's platform hump programme, in which part of the platform is raised in order to minimise the vertical gap between the platform and the train, we proposed a project in which the whole platform is raised and the doorway width of the train is increased, and performed a cost benefit analysis for this project. Our results show that the proposed project can reduce the boarding/alighting time, which leads to an operational cost reduction and a faster journey time for passengers. This makes the project economically viable in the sense that the benefits exceed the costs. Our study thus provides an example of the inclusion of indirect benefits when making an economic case.