Do businesses expect benefits from the existence of metro stations in their area? A case study in Thessaloniki, Greece

There is a great number of studies which have proved that a new or improved transport system has an important impact on land uses and real estate prices. While there are many studies which examine the effect of a new urban public transport system on the values of neighbouring properties, the number of researches which focus on the identification of the benefits that businesses can expect is rather limited. The objective of the present paper is to identify parameters which have a significant impact on the business revenue, as well as to quantify that impact, focusing on the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, where a metro system is under construction A questionnaire-based survey took place, addressed to business enterprise owners and professionals in the surrounding area of ten of the planned locations of Thessaloniki metro stations. The data collected by this survey were reinforced with additional attributes of the businesses, such as their distance from the nearest metro station, and a statistical analysis has been conducted, utilizing also regression modelling techniques The results indicate that more benefits can be expected for businesses which are located closer to the metro stations, especially in areas with limited parking availability. The benefits are estimated to be higher for the land use category that includes restaurants/café/bars. Models of that type can be very useful in cases of implementing alternative funding/financing methods, such as Value Capture. For the implementation of such methods it is very important to accurately estimate the benefits that all the parties involved in an investment will gain.