Socio-Economic Feasibility Analysis for Sustainable Mass Rapid Transit Project in Western India

Sustainable public transport systems may be achieved by adopting electric bus locomotion. The problem being addressed by this research is the development and case application of a computation methodology of the social benefit cost ratio of an electric bus transport project in India and identification of whether it can significantly favour the situation of environment friendly transport. The underlying theory behind this approach is if the environmental and social dimensions of an infrastructure project are considered in addition to the financial dimensions for the purpose of project appraisal, a holistic evaluation can be achieved and such an evaluation can give an edge to the approval of environmentally friendly projects. The evaluation has been performed using the present worth analysis of various types of benefits and costs associated with the implementation of the electric bus rapid transit system in a city. The variables considered in the researched methodology are benefits which are revenue, savings in vehicle operating costs (VOC), environmental benefits, savings in travel time, reduction in accidents and non-consumption of fossil fuel, and costs which are infrastructure investment costs, cost of the bus fleet, maintenance cost, replacement costs, cost of system operation and maintenance and additional electric power generation. The outcome as indicated by the value of the social benefit-cost ratio (SBCR) illustrates that such projects can be positively justified from point of view of the benefits gained by the society as well as fruitful returns and value addition of infrastructure investment in the long run. The research contributes by validating that social benefit-cost analysis (SBCA) can be used for the evaluation of sustainable transport system appraisals in order to make their realisation more favourable.