TOWARDS A WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY BASED VALUE OF UNDERGROUND SAFETY

Since the 1987 King's Cross fire, London Underground Ltd has given hig h priority to the development of its procedures for appraising propose d safety projects. A pilot study was commissioned from the authors whi ch was designed to test the feasibility of their proposed estimation p rocedures and provide some initial indications of the possible magnitu de of the willingness-to-pay based value concerned. The findings of th is study are reported in this paper and indicate a substantial premium for the willingness-to-pay based value of Underground safety relative to that of roads.