Hedonic Method Of Transport Analysis

Nowadays, travel is part of our everyday life. People travel for numerous reasons such as for business, trade, recreation and others. Travel may occur by human-powered transport, public transport, trains, airplanes and much more. Since travel is important for an economy to survive, it is therefore crucial for the government to invest in the transport sector. Although in Mauritius, transportation is characterized by a network of roadways, ports and airport, the government found it necessary to invest in the Light Rail Transit System to reduce congestion as well as pollution. The Light Rail Transit System has been proposed to cover a distance of 35 kilometers starting from Curepipe and ending at Port-Louis. That is now, instead of spending around

This approach can be used to estimate economic benefits or costs associated with environmental quality-referring to water, noise and air pollution- and environmental amenities such as panoramic views or the vicinity of recreational sites. The hedonic concept is used mostly to study the variations in housing prices in order to reflect the value of local environmental aspects. Under the hedonic pricing method, the price of a marketed good is related to its physiognomies or the service it is providing. For instance, the cost of investing in a vehicle reflects the characteristics of that particular vehicle, that is, the comfort, style, luxury, fuel consumption and so on. Therefore, we can value the individual characteristics of a mode of transport simply by looking at how the price, people are willing to pay, changes when the features change. However, it is a very time consuming, complex and costly method to undertake. The hedonic pricing approach can be used in the case of the Light Rail system as the proximity to the LRT stations will improve the accessibility of residents to the central business area-Port Louis and the rest of the urban areas starting from Curepipe, Ebene and Reduit. Thereby, allowing people to save time by travelling less and thus, giving them the opportunity to carry out other important tasks in their daily life. Moreover, it will also lead to transportation cost savings for nearby inhabitants. However, it has a disadvantage on nearby properties as it may lead to a fall in house values. Therefore, this approach is relatively straightforward and uncontroversial to apply as it is based on actual market prices and fairly easily measured data. If data are readily available, it can be relatively inexpensive to apply. If data must be gathered and compiled, the cost