asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 22 April (WA 289), what values of time are applied to trips made by bus; and whether a distinction is made between work and other journeys. [HL3378]

Department for Transport (DfT) guidance is that a distinction should be made between work and other journeys when valuing time.

For non-work purposes it is recommended that a rate of £5.04 per hour for commuting and £4.46 per hour for other journeys is applied in an appraisal. When considering the time spent waiting for public transport, these values should be increased by a factor of two and a half. This reflects research suggesting people place a greater weight on these time savings.

The value of time for work purposes should reflect the average income of relevant business travellers. It is recommended that for work purposes a rate of £20.22 per hour be applied to time spent travelling on a bus as a passenger.

All values are in market prices and expressed in average 2002 prices and values. Guidance on the appraisal of transport schemes is published by the DfT at www.webtag.org.uk. Detailed advice concerning the valuation of time savings is contained within Transport Analysis Guidance unit 3.5.6, which was last updated in February 2007.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 22 April (WA 289), how the value of time awarded to a car journey to a park-and-ride site on the periphery of a city and the subsequent bus journey would compare to a car journey throughout where the time taken for both journeys is the same; and whether there is a difference between work and other journeys in this respect. [HL3379]

In valuing the time costs of two journeys of equal duration—one by car all the way, and the other using park-and-ride—it is recommended that a distinction be made between trips made for work and non-work purposes.

For non-work purposes the same equity value of time is applied to in-vehicle time for both journeys. This is £5.04 per hour for commuting and £4.46 per hour for other journeys. Time spent walking (when interchanging and walking to the final destination) should be valued at double these rates. Time spent waiting for the bus should be valued at two and a half times these rates. This reflects research suggesting people place a greater weight on these time savings. As a result, a car journey will have a lower time cost than a park-and-ride journey of equal duration. Of course, any appraisal would need to consider all factors. Typically, park-and-ride would have lower monetary costs and/or faster access times; for example, through bus priority.

The value of time for journeys made for work purposes should reflect the average income of relevant business travellers. In cases of staged journeys, the value of working time for the main mode should be used, where the main mode refers to the mode for the longest journey by distance. For a park-and-ride trip, that would usually mean the car driver or car passenger values of time are more appropriate than the bus passenger value.

In the appraisal process, changes in travel time on employer's business are valued the same whatever stage of the journey is involved; that is, there is no weighting applied to take account of the reluctance of passengers to walk to/from or wait for transport services. This is because the time spent or saved is assumed to be lost or gained in productive working time—the travel activity taking up the time is therefore deemed irrelevant. A car journey for a particular group of business travellers will have the same time cost as a park-and-ride journey of equal duration.

All values are in market prices and expressed in average 2002 prices and values. Guidance on the appraisal of transport schemes is published by the Department for Transport at www.webtag.org.uk. Detailed advice concerning the valuation of time savings is contained within Transport Analysis Guidance unit 3.5.6, which was last updated in February 2007.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 22 April (WA 289), how waiting times and time taken to park a car are valued and compared. [HL3380]

It is recommended that for non-work purposes (such as commuting, shopping and education journeys) the time spent waiting should be valued at two and a half times the value of time spent travelling in the vehicle (“in-vehicle time”). This reflects research suggesting that people attach a greater weight on these time savings. For work purposes, the value attached to waiting time is the same as applied to in-vehicle time.

The time spent taken to park a car is assumed to form part of the total journey time for a car based trip. There is no difference in the value of time applied to the time spent parking the car.

Guidance on the appraisal of transport schemes is published by the Department for Transport at www.webtag.org.uk. Detailed advice concerning the valuation of time savings is contained within Transport Analysis Guidance unit 3.5.6, which was last updated in February 2007.