Evaluating public transit benefits and costs

It compares automobile and transit costs, and the advantages and disadvantages of bus and rail transit. [...] Since active transport (walking and cycling) and public transit are complements, transit travel tends to increase public fitness and health. [...] A transit evaluation may consider whether a particular transit investment is cost effective (benefits exceed costs), which of several transit options provides the greatest net benefits, whether a transit improvement provides more value than a highway improvement, and how to optimize transit service benefits, and how the benefits and costs of a transportation option are distributed. [...] Newer indices tend to be more comprehensive, and therefore more accurate at evaluating service quality and predicting the effects of changes in transit service and accessibility. [...] Travel impacts of transit encouragement strategies can be evaluated by comparing the generalized costs (travel time and incremental expenses per trip) of transit and driving to calculate a transit competitiveness ratio (Casello 2007).