University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

1. University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carmelo León, Jorge Araña and Raquel Espino Survey Results from Spain Developing Harmonised European Approaches for Transport Costing and Project Assessment (HEATCO) Las Palmas,19-20 January, 2006

2. Working Plan Timing

3. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Survey Results from Spain Survey firms Noise Maps Focus Group Pre-test Main Survey Results

4. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Survey Results from Spain Survey firms • Urban and rural areas in Gran Canaria: Noise Maps Focus Group Pre-test Main Survey Results

5. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Road Traffic Noise • Gran Canaria Survey firms Noise Maps Focus Group Pre-test Main Survey Results

6. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Rail Noise Survey firms • Urban and Rural areas in Region of Madrid Noise Maps Focus Group Pre-test Main Survey Results

7. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Rail Noise • Noise Map of region of Madrid (1997) Survey firms Noise Maps Focus Group Pre-test Main Survey Results

8. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Survey Results from Spain Survey firms • In general, participants found it very difficult to isolate valuations invoked by car traffic from the overall street noise. Actually, most of them failed to focus on the valuation scenario since the rest of the noise sources remained affecting them, and nothing was said about it. Noise Maps Focus Group • Another potential protest argument was the perception that the main source of car traffic noise is not heavy traffic but an extended non-civic behaviour in the population. Pre-test Main Survey • They suggested that the policy to counteract noise may contain other aspects such as an increase in the number of policemen in the streets to enforce civic behaviour (illegal parking, …) Results • It was noted a potentially high correlation between the time the subject has been previously exposed to the noise and her preferences for silence.

9. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Survey Results from Spain Survey firms • It was noted that the quality, and not only the quantity, of the activities that subjects carry out at home, could make a difference in the valuation results. That is, people who study or work at home complaint far more than others. Noise Maps Focus Group • Participants showed relevant doubts about the proposed policy in the current wording. It can be suggested two alternative and more reliable wordings: Pre-test 1. Say that the cover has been already used in Europe with a 100 % of success Main Survey 2. Use a headphone and car noise before and after the policy to convince individuals about the different in traffic noise with the cover Results • In any case, it seemed they did not fully trust a 100% of noise reduction. It was found more adequate to propose different levels of noise reduction and to elicit a full risk reduction valuation function

10. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Survey Results from Spain Survey firms • Information. There seems to be significant heterogeneity in the level of information about the effect that noise could cause to human health. Noise Maps • Subjects did not find credible the motorbikes scenario, and did not think anyone might pay for it. Focus Group Pre-test • Subjects did not accept an increase in the municipality fee to cover the policies because they did not believe in current management. An ad hoc Association that collects money and guarantees their use in reducing traffic noise was somewhat more credible to the participants. Main Survey Results • To the open question (how much would you WTP?), almost 90% stated reasons associated with costs rather that values. Also 100 % of them considered others’ WTP as a relevant aspect to state their own value. The independence assumption seems not to hold here.

11. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Qualitative Analysis Survey firms • Wording. The pre-test was especially useful for improving the wording of the final questionnaire. Noise Maps • Interviewer bias. During the pre-test all the misunderstandings, doubts, and questions that were expressed by the respondents were collected. This helped us to define a list of responses common to all the interviewers. This was possible only for the road traffic noise sample. Focus Group Pre-test Main Survey • Valuation Scenario. We confirmed that, although there was a large proportion of zeros, the valuation scenario seemed to be well understood. Results

12. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Qualitative Analysis Survey firms • VTTS Scenario. We found serious problems regarding the VTTS scenario Noise Maps • What is the relationship between Noise Reduction and Time savings?. Respondents did not fully understand the link between Noise and Time Saving questions in the same survey. Focus Group Pre-test • Scenario credibility. Respondents found it difficult to understand how traffic congestion can be reduced by paying extra money. The scenario was perhaps not concrete enough. (How my money can reduce traffic density?, what exactly am I paying? to whom? Is it a toll fee?). Main Survey Results

13. Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Quantitative analysis Survey firms • Although we have few observations (50) we find some relevant issues that may help to explain results: Noise Maps • Heterogeneity in Bid Design. By implementing an open-ended question and a bid design technique based on Cooper (1993) we find that the European bid design might not be an optimal design for the Canary Islands sample. Focus Group Pre-test Main Survey • Heterogeneity in Preferences. There is a challenge for the econometric approach to model heterogeneity: Flexible distributions are recommended (SNPDF, Mixtures, …). Results

14. Type of Survey Region Mean WTP s.d. ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE URBAN 45.30 € 300.12 RURAL 14.5 € 50.98 RAILWAY NOISE URBAN 16.51 € 43.26 RURAL 76.06 € 321.91 Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Very Preliminary Analysis Survey firms Noise Maps Focus Group Pre-test Main Survey Results

15. Categories Proportion Don´t want to answer 40,74% Protest answer 28,01% Valid Answers (WTP>=0) 31,25% Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment (HEATCO) Very Preliminary Analysis Survey firms Noise Maps Focus Group Pre-test Main Survey Results

16. University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carmelo León, Jorge Araña and Raquel Espino Survey Results from Spain Developing Harmonised European Approaches for Transport Costing and Project Assessment (HEATCO) Las Palmas,19-20 January, 2006