The following data have been developed for four alternative transportation plans for a high-speed transit line that will connect a major airport with the downtown area of a large city. Prepare an evaluation report for these proposals by considering the cost effectiveness of each attribute. Show your results in graphical form and comment on each proposal.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Persons Displaced

The existing service moves no one out of their home while plans B, C, and D

displace 3,200 people each. Plan A, however, displaces only 264 people, 92% less

than the other proposals. The graph below depicts the number of people displaced

versus costs. This graph clearly shows that plan A is the preferred alternative

when considering residential displacements.



Businesses Displaced

Plan A impacts far fewer businesses than does Plans B, C, or D, which will

displace 275 businesses each. As shown in the graph below, Plan A is the

preferred alternative when considering business impacts.



Average Speed

While the existing plan has an average speed of 10.2 mi/h, the four new proposals

increase this value to almost 4 times the current travel speed (Plan A) and in one

case almost 5 times (Plan D) the current rate. Out of all of the proposals, Plan D

has the fastest rate and Plan A has the slowest. When one relates these statistics to

annual passengers carried on each alternative, Plan D is preferred, but only

slightly above the existing and other proposed alternatives. As the graph below

indicates, all of the alternatives are relatively equal. Plan A provides the least

improvement.



Costs

From observing the data gathered, Plan A has the lowest cost. Overall, Plan A

fares best in three of the four criteria considered (excepting average speed).