Financing urban transportation infrastructure in a multi-actors environment: the role of value capture

• Published in: European transport research review Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 1 - 19
• Main Authors: Roukouni, Anastasia, Macharis, Cathy, Basbas, Socrates, Stephanis, Basil, Mintsis, George
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-03-2018; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Automotive Engineering; Civil Engineering; Engineering; Financing; Infrastructure; Multi-actor multi-criteria analysis; Multiple criterion; Original Paper; Professional associations; Public transportation; R&D; Regional/Spatial Science; Research & development; Shrinkage; Subway construction; Topical Collection on The role of planning towards sustainable urban mobility; Transportation; Transportation engineering; Transportation research; Urban public transport infrastructure planning; Urban transportation; Value capture finance; Value capture finance; Urban public transport infrastructure planning; Multi-actor multi-criteria analysis
• ISSN: 1867-0717; 1866-8887
• DOI: 10.1007/s12544-017-0281-5

Purpose
A family of innovative financial mechanisms and tools for urban public transport, based on the value increment caused by enhanced accessibility, are lately gaining much popularity as a solution to the challenges posed by public financial resources’ shrinkage: Value Capture Finance (VCF). The effectiveness of applied transport financing policies depends significantly on the level of agreement among stakeholders, making collaboration a prerequisite for success. The research presented herein assesses alternative financing options for urban public transportation which are based on the VCF concept.
Method
The Multi - Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA) developed by Macharis [
1
] is used. The methodology is unique in its field, as it includes in-depth involvement of all relevant stakeholders and reveals their way of thinking.
Results
The proposed methodological framework is applied to the real-world case study of the under construction metro system of Thessaloniki, Greece. Three different financing scenarios are tested, and the criteria weight elicitation is performed through personal interviews with 70 stakeholders belonging to six different groups, namely: Government/Local Authorities, Transport Authorities, Universities/Research Institutions, Private Sector, Society and Professional Associations. Noteworthy similarities but also contradictions among stakeholder groups emerged, highlighted by the different criteria used for each group.
Conclusion
The paper introduces the MAMCA as an ex - ante evaluation method for different VCF mechanisms for urban transportation infrastructure. MAMCA emerges as a robust methodology for this assessment, as it is proved to be capable of dealing with the VCF complexity and multidisciplinary nature.