Road pricing in a free society

Improved road pricing would be an indispensable element in a road system run on commercial principles, with charges for road use not co-mingled with taxes, and with no discrimination against private road providers. But pricing imposed by a monopoly supplier, to 'restrain' motorised mobility, is unacceptable in a free society.     

for whom the road tolls

How strong is the case for road pricing? Giles Keating, of Credit Suisse First Boston, argues the case for a comprehensive system of road pricing. It would reduce both congestion and the budget deficit by £16·5bn.     

Road Pricing: Solving the Technical Problems

How would road pricing work? Peter Hills and Phil Blythe, of Newcastle University, explain the technical developments which make a variety of road pricing schemes a genuine possibility.     

A political economy model of road pricing

In this paper, we use a simple majority voting model to study the introduction of urban congestion tolls. The model allows for different types of uncertainty and considers different uses of the toll revenues. The following results are obtained. First, we show that individual uncertainty with respect to modal substitution costs may imply that a majority votes against road pricing ex ante, although a majority would have been in favor after its introduction ex post. Moreover, if a majority is against road pricing ex ante, there will also be no majority for organizing an experiment that would take away the individual uncertainty. Second, political uncertainty with respect to the use of the revenues corroborates the finding that ex ante more voters will be against the introduction of tolls. Third, both types of uncertainty suggest that fewer voters are against road pricing when toll revenues are used to subsidize public transport than when they are redistributed to all voters. Importantly, the results of this paper are consistent with a number of recent empirical observations on efforts to introduce road pricing, including the systematic rejection of road pricing in referenda, the more favorable attitudes towards road pricing after than before its introduction, and tying the toll revenues to support public transport.     

Minibuses in urban transportation

Bus-route simulations suggest that minibuses could not survive in North America or Europe if driver wages equal those currently paid mass-transit bus drivers. If minibuses pay taxi-driver wages and standard buses pay current wages, however, minibuses would yield slightly and appreciably lower urban travel costs than standard buses given respectively marginal-cost and current prices for road services. Scale economies justify markedly smaller subsidies for minibuses than for standard buses. Underpriced road services justify substantial subsidies and preferential access to road capacity for both minibuses and standard buses.     

执行力——公路建设项目管理中的核心要素

近年来,我国加大公路建设的力度,为社会进步、经济发展、人民生活提供了良好的物质基础。但是,在一些公路建设中仍存在着较为突出的质量问题,造成较大的经济损失。如果在每个建设项目中都能严格而有效地按照科学方法和工作流程去执行各项任务,就不会出现质量问题。因此,执行力是公路建设项目管理中的核心要素,不容忽视。     

Voting on road congestion policy

This paper studies the political economy of urban traffic policy. A city council and a regional government (representing city and suburbs) decide respectively on parking fees and a road toll. Both charges are below the optimum when median voters in city and suburbs prefer cars to public transport sufficiently more than the average. Even if the city government would set an optimal road toll, the regional government blocks it when the median suburban voter prefers cars strongly enough. Letting the city control parking and road pricing may therefore increase chances of adoption of the latter. However, if the city controls parking and the region road pricing, the combined charges are higher than if the city controlled them both. Hence, when voters want all charges below the optimum, the involvement of two governments may be desirable. We also find that earmarking road pricing revenues for public transport is welfare-enhancing, compared to lump-sum redistribution, only if they are topped up by extra funds granted to the city by a higher level of government.     

A note on land use in a square city

This paper considers a two-dimensional rectangular city with a grid road system, including a square city as a special case, and then derives a simple equilibrium traffic pattern in the case of constant road width. We maintain that while land-use decisions using market rents would lead to overallocation of land to transportation in our square city as in the Solow Vickrey long narrow city, the tendency towards excessive road-building is stronger near the city boundaries than at the city center in our two-dimensional case, contrary to the conclusion drawn from the Solow Vickrey model.     

The saleability of urban road pricing

The key issues concerning road pricing are now well understood, and they must be addressed at local level if the policy is to be saleable.
This means that objections to pricing need to be addressed at local level.
Experience abroad suggests that equity and the use of the resulting cash flow are likely to be the most significant points that would need to be addressed.     

行政区划调整的城市化响应研究——以江苏为例

城市是经济社会发展的重要载体,城市化则是通往进步的必然道路.而行政区划的范围、大小、结构直接影响城市化发展的速度、进程和质量.因此,作为上层建筑的行政区划就必须与城市化进程相适应.适时作出调整,以达到促进各种要素的合理流动和优化配置,促进城市化的健康持续发展.以江苏省为例,结合改革开放以来江苏城市化的发展和行政区划调整,通过建立"江苏省城市化指数综合度量指标体系",运用数学分析方法探寻行政区划调整与城市化发展的内在响应机制和规律,分析这一特殊的地缘现象对城市化发展的现实意义.     

Land use in a circular city: Some numerical results

In a previous paper (“Land Use in a Circular City”, Journal of Economic Theory, 1974), I considered efficient land use and travel patterns in a circular city consisting of a homogeneous economic activity and a network of radial and circumferential roads. My analysis assumed that under decentralized optimum conditions, the price of traveling circumferentially through a radian would increase with distance from the city center. Under this and a second pricing assumption, an optimum would involve either restricting inward trip penetration or providing travelers with an inner ring road. This paper provides numerical illustrations of the optimum when trip penetration is restricted. The results suggest that the underlying pricing assumptions are likely not valid.     

道路平面交叉的方格网立面设计的研究

在城市道路中,由于道路的纵横交错而形成很多的交叉口。交叉口是道路的咽喉,车辆和行人都要在交叉口处汇集通过。道路交叉口在车辆和行人较多的时段,经常会出现交通阻滞的情况,也容易发生交通事故。因此,正确地设计道路交叉口并合理地组织交通,减少车辆在道路交叉口停留的时间,并保证车辆行驶安全和提高交叉口的通行能力,具有很重要的现实意义。笔者谈谈在道路平面交叉设计过程中一些粗浅的看法,希望能抛砖引玉,进一步优化设计,提高道路交叉口的通行能力。     

Congestion, Land Use, and Job Dispersion: A General Equilibrium Model

In dispersed cities, congestion tolls would drive up central wages and rents and would induce centrally located producers to want to disperse closer to their workers and their customers, paying lower rents and realizing productivity gains from land to labor substitution. But the tolls would also induce residents to want to locate more centrally in order to economize on commuting and shopping travel. In a computable general equilibrium model, we find that the centralizing effect of tolls on residences dominates on the decentralizing effect of tolls on firms, causing the dispersed city to have more centralized job and population densities. Under stylized parameters, we find that efficiency gains from levying congestion tolls on work and shopping travel are 3.0% of average income. About 80% of such gains come from road planning and 20% from tolls.     

Reconstructing british rail: In search of a profitable railway

The objective of a profitable British Rail might be achieved by a segregation of its operating services and its permanent way (infrastructure). In the absence of a system of road pricing, only the operating services have the potential to be profitable. A segregation of railway operating services and infrastructure is also supported by an examination of fundamental characteristics of all modes of transport. While operating services exhibit the characteristics of competitive markets, infrastructure tends to monopoly. The reconstruction of British Rail in this way would improve the provision of transport services, by allowing competitive market pressures to be exerted more fully.     

道路交通安全评价方法研究

道路交通安全评价是一个涉及多因素、多指标的综合评价过程。文章通过梳理研究了国内外在道路交通安全评价方面的相关文献资料,将道路交通安全评价研究划分成区域道路交通、路网及路段交通两个方面进行整合研究,并对道路交通安全评价研究的主要方法及研究趋势进行了分析,对提高道路交通安全性及我国路网整体效率有重要意义。     

AutoCAD绘制道路工程图的要点

公路是一条带状的三维空间结构物,为了道路设计和施工的需要,要对道路进行测量,然后根据测得的数据,绘制出如下道路工程图,包括道路路线平面图、道路纵断面图及道路横断面图;笔者根据实际绘图经验,提出几点AutoCAD绘制道路工程图的要点。     

徐州市道路货运信息平台系统框架研究

为了适应狳州市货运市场需求的变化．迫切需要构建满足道路货运业以及现代物流业需求的徐州市道路货运信息平台,从而真正提高徐州市道路货运市场管理水平和管理效率、道路货运市场产业结构的优化调整、实现道路货运市场行业现代化的目标。首先对徐州市道路货运市场存在的问题和不足进行分析：然后从政府主管部门与行业管理部门、道路货运行业各市场主体、信息平台运营商、其他周边地区四个方面对徐州市道路货运信息平台系统进行了需求分析;最后对信息平台的系统框架进行了设计,包括系统总体架构、业务应用系统设计、软件方案技术架构和信息平台网络架构。     

佛山市南海区兴业路C段道路工程修改设计

兴业路位于南海科技工业园区,是工业园路网规划中的一条城市主干道,道路已经进入实施阶段。但是兴业路的道路线位与正在实施的贵广铁路线位出现冲突,故须避让贵广铁路,调整原有的道路线位,由于前期道路征地已经完成,为避免过多的新增征地引起土地矛盾,还需调整道路断面。     

Central European EU accession and Latin American integration: Mutual lessons in macroeconomic policy design

Design options in exchange rate, monetary and fiscal policies, are explored for economies in Central Europe and Latin America that aspire to engage in monetary unification. Recent experience in these regions suggests that, absent a model of institutional harmonization and a road map for policy convergence, Latin American economies would benefit from following internally consistent macroeconomic policies—possibly in the context of a rules-based framework—and from adopting widely accepted standards of best practice. Unilateral adoption of a hard currency (dollarization or euroization) tends to be counterproductive unless it is supported by fiscal discipline and wage flexibility. Empirical evidence is presented on the effect of expected monetary unification on sovereign risk.     

论公路养护管理工作中边坡养护的重要性

现代经济的快速发展提高了对我国公路运输能力的要求,作为公路运输的基础,公路施工与养护对我国公路运输事业的稳定有着重要的影响。边坡的稳定是保障路基稳定与公路行车安全的基础,其养护工作对公路交通的发展有着重要的意义。文中就公路养护管理工作中边坡养护的重要性以及现代边坡养护技术应用情况的进行了简要论述。