MAESTRO (1998-2000)
Introduction to the MAESTRO Guidelines
MAESTRO project, funded under EU DG-VII (precursor to DG-MOVE), had the purpose to provide guidelines for how to design pilots/demonstrators in the transport domain. Building on the strengths and weaknesses of the evaluation approach of a wide range of projects in the sector, MAESTRO set out a comprehensive approach so that pilot/demonstrators would be designed from the outset to provide needed information.
The MAESTRO Guidelines
The MAESTRO Guidelines provides the core methodology. It pays attention to defining the objectives of a pilot/demonstrator, what is needed to be known, and the extent to which needed information can also be obtained form other sources. It provides guidance on site selection, pilot/demonstrator design, to estimating the expected outcomes, to then design the measurement methods appropriatey, to ex-ante (“before”) and “ex-post” (after) evaulation, and to interpretation of and using the results.
Appendices to the MAESTRO Guidelines
This main set of Appendices provides resources to support the guidance given in the main Guidelines document. These are drawn from a wide range of experience and practice in seven transport sub-sectors, being Air, Intermodal, Rail, Road, Strategic, Urban and Waterborne. For each sector, it provides materials (usually in list/table form) for the main stages of the guidelines, covering (i) Transport Policies; (potential strategies and measures to address specific problem types; (iii) Second level objectives (i.e. going deeper than the initial set of goals); (iv) Areas of major policy interest and third level objectives; (v) Stakeholders; (vi) classification of potential project impacts; and (vii) Indicators and how they may be measured.
Appendix A: Toolbox of Evaluation Techniques
This appendix contains detailed information about the four types of evaluation tools (Cost Benefit Analysis, Cost Effectiveness Analysis, Multicriteria Analysis and Goal Achievement Methods) proposed in the MAESTRO methodology for use in assessing transport P/D projects.
Appendix B: Environmental Impacts
This appendix considers three aspects as part of the environmental analysis of P/D projects; (i) Identification of all possible environmental impacts derived from the different transport sectors: highway/road, railway, air and waterborne; (ii) Enumeration of the environmental problems that those impacts are contributing to; and, (iii) Description of the effects that those problems might generate. For each transport sector, impacts resulting from infrastructure use are listed separately from impacts due to construction and maintenance. Environmental problems are categorised according to the receptor media of the impacts that generate them. Five receptor media are identified: air, water, land, natural habitat and built or urban habitat. Effects can have a local or non-local (regional or global) nature.
Appendix C: Evaluation of Social and Societal Impacts
The social and societal impacts of processes of innovation and, by consequence, of pilot and demonstration projects that are part of such processes, are wide and varied. A pragmatic approach is chosen in this appendix by highlighting a limited number of social and societal impacts. In addition to introducing the relevant social and societal impacts, it indicates the relevance of these aspects for the set-up, design and evaluation of pilot and demonstration projects.
Appendix D: Valuation of Travel Time
This Appendix describes how to value travel time for passenger and freight transport. It identifies users, specifies the required inputs for using the tool; deals with the issue of uncertainty in applying the tool; provides recommendations on use of the tool within various evaluation techniques; identifies the advantages and disadvantages of the tool; and concludes by dealing with a range of other technical issues. An overview of current values as taken from the TRACE-project is also provided.
Appendix E: Assessment Tools for the Transport System
This appendix provides a checklist for the calculation of direct transport costs. The total direct costs of a transport P/D project must be calculated in order to be included within a cost benefit analysis (CBA) framework. The costs themselves and their use in CBA are usually straightforward, given that their units are naturally financial. However, there is a need to be thorough in estimating all these direct cost changes. This tool provides an audit of these costs.
Appendix F: Statistical Methods For Data Analysis And Derivation
This Appendix contains brief details of some of the possible methods that could be used to check the statistical significance of the experimental data. The techniques are split according to the nature of the data to be analysed. The data types are defined as “Quantitative” (hard) parameters or “Qualitative” (soft) parameters.
Appendix G: References
List of references uder in the Appendices