11. Time saving benefits arise because transport is a means and not an end. People do not generally travel for travel's sake, but in order to get somewhere to do something from which they derive benefits. The longer the time spent travelling, the less time they will have to enjoy the activity at the destination. People show that they are willing to pay to save time by, for example, choosing to fly abroad rather than take a slower mode, even though in the past flying may have been more expensive in money terms. A transport project which leads to a reduction in journey times therefore provides benefits to those using it. The Department has standard values of time which are applied to calculate the value of time saving benefits. Different values have been calculated for working and non-working time, as people travelling in work time tend to place a higher value on time savings than those travelling at their leisure.
12. For the Link, the Department commissioned consultants to estimate specific values of time for business and leisure passengers. The time savings are expected to be around 33 minutes per international trip to and from St. Pancras, and around 20 minutes per trip for journeys to and from Waterloo. Domestic benefits were estimated by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising. This used values of time and the bidders' estimates of levels of patronage and provision of domestic services. The benefits include an element of relief from overcrowding and improvements in reliability, but the bulk of the domestic benefits is represented by time savings.