How much do we value improvements on the accessibility to public transport for people with reduced mobility or disability?

Abstract

The public transport system of Santiago de Chile presents several deficiencies in terms of accessibility, especially for people with reduced mobility. However, there is no official guideline or prioritization on how to value these improvements on accessibility, making them a costly expense. This paper values accessibility elements in the urban bus system of public transport in Santiago, Chile, through a stated preference experiment. The attributes included in this experiment are: audio-visual information at bus stops, elevation of stops, buses’ access ramps, and time of travel. Based on the data collected from the survey, discrete choice models were estimated to obtain the preferences and valuations of individuals for the elements, with a focus on people with reduced mobility. The results show that individuals with reduced mobility value at least twice the accessibility elements than people without reduced mobility.