Assessment of the Parth-Worth Utility of the Biofuels. Use in the Public Transportation: a first analysis

The present paper is the initial result of a research work called « The part-worth utility of biomasses use for the pollution reduction in the transport sector: a case study in the Milan’s metropolitan area ». The study is focused on the evolutionary dynamics of the “urban system” and on the life quality improvement demands expressed by its citizens. In particular, the urban system faces an increasingly urgent issue: how to harmonize the strategic development with environmental and economic sustainability. The aim of the study is to evaluate the part-worth utility, attributed by the citizens, to the bio-fuel use in the public transportation sector. To do that, a case study was defined (the Milan metropolitan area), and the pollution reduction proposal’s effect upon the citizens’ behaviour will be evaluated. Here the context of reference is first introduced and, subsequently, the theoretical models that have determined the choice of the methodology are analyzed. In particular will be discussed the specificities, the methodological phases and the “plus value” of the two principal methodologies for the economic evaluation of the extra-market goods: the Contingent Evaluation and the Choice Experiment. The research project is realized thanks to the funding of the Ingenio Global Subsidy, financed by the European Social Fund, the Italian “Ministero del Lavoro e della Previdenza Sociale” and the Lombardia Region. The study has been joined, with a collaborative research method, by Milan’s public transportation firm: ATM Spa (Azienda Trasporti Milanesi).