§ Mr. Fatchettasked the Secretary of State for Transport how the results from the Glaister model regarding the returns on public transport revenue support in the metropolitan county councils compare with the returns on many of the highways schemes approved by his Department on the basis of the similar COBA cost benefit model for highway investment; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RidleyIt would be misleading to make direct comparisons between the results produce by the COBA and Glaister models. The latter was developed to assess the benefits to be derived from current expenditure on public transport revenue support within a single year as a guide to the allocation of a given total of resources amongst a number of authorities. COBA, on the other hand, is concerned with evaluating the costs and benefits of capital expenditure on individual highway schemes over a 30-year period.