Decision-making process for evaluating socio-economic impact of green transport policies in insular areas

Green transport policies, especially in insular areas, have to account for the unique characteristics and growth prospects with respect both to tourism development and travel behavior of residents. This paper evaluates the impact of green transport policies, moving one step further in research by rating the proposed policies in terms of their effectiveness in achieving a wide variety of economic, social, environmental, and other public policy goals (sustainability). Under this scope, the approach developed is based mainly on two decision methods that is the cost-benefit and multicriteria analysis, using data derived from stated preference surveys on residents and tourists as well as observations of actual choices. Thus, alternative policies are given qualitative ratings, and the weights derived from preference surveys on policymakers are applied to calculate a composite total score for each alternative. Based on this information, an advanced decision-making model for policymakers is developed for evaluating the socio-economic impact of foreseen green transport policies in islands taking into account their unique characteristics.