Economic Evaluation of Seoul City's Bus-Only-Lane Project
Following the suit of some other countries, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has ambitiously implemented the bus-only-lane (BOL) system as one of the new transportation reform plans. However, it does not seem that the project has achieved its primary goal of reducing the number of private vehicle drivers, and that the project is economically viable. This paper reports the results of an economic evaluation of Samil-Ro Bus-Only-Lane project, one of the representative BOLs in Seoul. It estimates travel demand both with and without project in order to examine the achievement of the project's goal of shifting private vehicle travelers to the reformed bus system. To test the project's economic viability, the paper also conducts a cost-benefit analysis by calculating the discounted net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and benefit and cost ratio (B/C). Moreover, both the project's uncertainty and sustainability have been checked through the sensitivity and risk analysis and the environmental degradation effects test, respectively. In the conclusion, the paper also provides policy recommendations.