Overview
The Institute of Transport Economics has carried out evaluations and assessment programmes for different measures for improving public transport and their effects on the passengers transport sector as a whole. The aim of this programme is to improve the existing analytical tools in order to provide cost efficient analyses with a high level of precision for studies of public transport as well as for other modes of passenger transport. While carrying out market analyses, one important objective is to reduce the costs without compromising the quality; another is to collect as much as possible of precise and detailed information from an existing database. It is also of great importance to isolate impacts of various kinds of social changes, which are not directly related to the measures being assessed.
The main targets of the 'Strategic market analysis' programme are:
- Further development of the analytical tools developed within the area of public transport, attaching importance to the more general employment of other parts of the passenger transport sector.
- Strengthen the competence regarding practices for interlocking different sources of information, and how this may contribute to the level of precision in analysis. This creates a need for method development within each individual analysis and within the connecting of information sources on different levels.
This programme is a strategic institute programme (SIP), aiming at developing new research areas and render professional activities leading to a deeper understanding. The programme's status is reported to the Norwegian Research Council every year. The initiative to establish the strategic institute programme was made by the institute itself, while the Norwegian Research Council is held responsible for the professional quality assurance of the SIP.
Funding
This programme is financed by the annual basic funding that the Institute of Transport Economics receives from the Research Council.
The programme has a budget of approximately EUR 62 500 per year. The major part of the resources is spent on man-hours worked by research workers at TØI.