Local authority and academic attitudes to urban road pricing: a UK perspective

Urban road pricing as an instrument of traffic management has generated a great deal of interest in the UK in recent years. Whilst this is the case there is still no urban road pricing scheme in operation in the UK. The reason for this is primarily one of ‘acceptability.’ This paper, through the use of a national survey, examines the attitudes of key stakeholder groups with respect to urban road pricing. How serious is traffic congestion and traffic related pollution perceived to be by Local Authority Councillors, Officials and the Academic community in the UK? How is urban road pricing viewed by this sub-group of the population in terms of its effectiveness and public acceptance when compared to other policy options? and how could the saleability of urban road pricing be improved? This raises issues in terms of how the revenue raised from urban road pricing should be utilised, the use of urban road pricing as part of a package of measures, the concerns expressed by the stakeholders with respect to urban road pricing, such as the invasion of road users’ privacy, and the type of technology which should be considered. Overall, the paper aims to further the debate among policy makers.     

Modelling the impact of alternative pricing policies on an urban multimodal traffic corridor

This paper investigates the effects of alternative or joint schemes of road pricing and parking pricing to verify if private behaviour in operating parking facilities, road tolling and transit systems can lead to profitable results in the private sector and for public welfare. The evaluation is carried out using an idealised urban multimodal traffic corridor with some numerical examples that show the effects of different pricing policies. A Deterministic User Equilibrium assignment procedure is used to calculate certain performance indicators such as user travel costs, social costs and private profit. The results show that the system is highly sensitive to pricing policy and that a proper joint pricing of park-and-ride facilities, city centre parking and road tolls can be developed to simultaneously attain good private and social benefits.     

Towards a holistic framework for road safety in Australia

Current road safety programs and thinking in Australia are constructed within a paradigm that tends to accept existing cultural arrangements. Such programs therefore, favour symptomatic solutions and technical and/or physical solutions as a way forward. Fundamental redesign of cultural arrangements is necessary in order to challenge the “culture of speed”. Our research is developing a holistic, social ecological model for reconnecting road safety with communities that value quality of life and slower ways of being. Improving road safety through reduction in the volume and speed of motorised traffic is integrally related to enhancing health and fitness, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving neighbourhood planning and community cohesion. In this regard, community-based travel behaviour change initiatives are deserving of much greater attention in the road safety area. As well as these changes at the personal and community scale, policy changes to urban and transport planning that address the broader issues of sustainability in an era of climate change and peak oil can also be linked to improvements in road safety.     

Socioeconomic differences in public acceptability and car use adaptation towards urban road pricing

Urban road pricing is regarded as an effective instrument to reduce traffic congestion and environmental-related problems in metropolitan areas. Whereas the overall impact of urban road pricing on car use adaptation and public acceptability is known, there are only inconsistent results concerning the socioeconomic differences in the response towards road pricing. However, this knowledge is necessary for the development of urban road pricing packages. This paper uses a segmentation approach to identify groups of car users with a similar background in relevant socioeconomic variables and compares their responses towards road pricing. Three groups are identified: young families, suburban families, and singles and couples. These groups indeed differ in their car use adaptation towards urban road pricing as well as in their preferred revenues use. While all three groups significantly reduced their private car use, the young families reduced their car use most, followed by the group of singles and couples. Complementary measures are discussed that are believed to facilitate car use adaptation of each group in response towards urban road pricing.     

Government plans for lorry road-user charging in the UK: a critique and an alternative

The British government was planning to introduce a system of road-user charging for lorries in 2008. In July 2005, it decided to abandon these plans and incorporate the development of a charging scheme for trucks into a future road pricing system for all categories of traffic. This paper examines the objectives of the proposed lorry road-user charging scheme in the UK and argues that the government's plans for LRUC would have been inappropriate. An alternative method of road-user charging for lorries is proposed which would meet the main objectives of LRUC at much lower cost, disruption and risk and act as an interim measure until it is possible, technically and politically, to introduce general road pricing in the UK.     

A socio-economic assessment of proposed road user charging schemes in Copenhagen

Road pricing, congestion charging, toll-systems and other road charging instruments are intensively discussed in many countries. Although many partial analyses of the consequences have been published, few overall socio-economic analyses have been carried out. The article presents such a socio-economic analysis of four different proposed road pricing schemes for the Copenhagen area. The purpose was to assess all benefits and costs involved, including impacts on traffic and environment, maintenance and financing costs as well as tax distortion effects. It was concluded that the socio-economic surplus of the projects depends crucially on the congestion level. With the current traffic level, road pricing will not yet be socially expedient in Copenhagen. However, if the opening year is postponed to 2015, the two most favourable schemes will turn positive. The analyses also showed that the magnitude of demand response by introducing road pricing is likely to have significant impact on the project surplus. This is an important observation because most short-term driven traffic models will then underestimate the projected surplus. Finally, it was found that the degree to which benefits outweigh costs depends considerably on the use of revenue. Although it may contribute to decreasing road congestion, recycling all of the revenue back to the transport sector turned out to be inefficient and costly.     

Concessionary fares and bus operator reimbursement in Scotland and Wales: No better or no worse off?

Governments in the three constituent countries in Britain—Scotland, Wales and England—have recently introduced much more generous concessionary fares on buses for people of 60 and above, in order to increase “social inclusion” (see Department for Transport (DfT), 2006. Concessionary fares for older and disabled people: regulatory impact assessment. DfT, London. Available from: http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/aboutria/ria/concessionaryfaresforolderan5508.)—i.e., to make it easier for people of limited means to access the activities that they want. To this end, in Wales and Scotland, passholders can now travel anywhere at zero fare, whilst in England, there is a free concession within a more limited area. As the majority of bus services in Britain outside London are operated commercially in a deregulated environment, these operators must be reimbursed for the cost of carrying at least some of the concessionary passengers. The main objective of this paper is to understand how much the concession costs, and whether or not it is a subsidy to operators (public funding that underwrites their costs).The paper draws on research carried out in Wales, for the Welsh Assembly and in Scotland, for the Scottish Executive, to achieve these objectives. It concludes that there are grounds for arguing that these countries’ concession schemes are subsidising operators that there is some limited evidence that the new concessions are promoting social inclusion; but there are still many elderly people for whom the concession is of very limited use since they face barriers to bus use other than cost.     

Key research themes on regulation,pricing, and sustainable urban mobility

ABSTRACT

This article considers both theoretical arguments and practical experience regarding a range of urban pricing and regulation policies, namely road pricing, public transport pricing and regulation, car parking policies, home and low-emissions zones, and regulation and subsidies to bring about cleaner vehicles. It concludes that effective urban transport policies require a consistently structured package of measures, and that the most urgent research needs surround the design of such measures to achieve their objectives while being financially sustainable and attracting public and political support.     

Transportation and recreation: a case study of visitors driving for pleasure at Acadia National Park

Automobiles and roads are as much of a way of experiencing national parks as they are a means of conveyance. This study examines experiential aspects of transportation on Acadia National Park’s primary scenic road – Ocean Drive. Interviews with vehicle-based road users were conducted to identify indicators to measure and manage experiential quality on Ocean Drive. Also, a survey was conducted to make comparisons with important variables identified on “transportation-only” urban roads. Results suggest that (1) Ocean Drive is important to park visitors’ experience; (2) experiential indicators for Ocean Drive include vehicle crowding, scenery, and travel freedom/convenience; and (3) experiential aspects of transportation on scenic roads in parks may differ substantially from urban roads. Study findings suggest a need to deliberately and thoughtfully plan and manage for quality recreational experiences on roads in national parks and related areas.     

Ramsey pricing including CO2 emission cost: An application to Spanish airports

The long-term growth in the air transport is leading to the need to expand airport infrastructure but this has serious environmental implications. Thus, there is the need to establish an alternative to the traditional airport pricing structure for landing fees, which reflects the overall costs that air transport operators impose on others. Airport pricing should provide a sound guide for future investments, and at the same time reflect whether additional facilities are needed and at what price, by taking into account all costs, including environmental costs. This paper analyses one application of Ramsey Pricing on uncongested Spanish airport, by considering the CO₂ emission costs as a valuable input.     

The effects of area-wide road speed and curvature on traffic casualties in England

Transport provides a range of benefits to society in terms of mobility, access and economic growth. There are however negative impacts of transport, not least in terms of environmental degradation, damage to property, traffic accidents and loss of life. This paper focuses on road traffic accidents, the reduction of which is an important aim of transport policy world wide. The primary objective of this paper is to develop a series of relationships using spatially disaggregated area-level cross-sectional data between different traffic casualties, road traffic speed and road curvature by controlling for other contributing factors associated with area characteristics. The spatial units of the analysis are the 8019 census wards in England. Ward-level casualty data are disaggregated by severity of the casualty (such as fatalities, serious injuries and slight injuries) and by the severity of the casualty related to various road users.The results suggest that increased average speed within a ward is positively associated with total fatalities and serious injuries; and road curvature is found to be negatively associated with road accidents.     

Congestion management and electronic road pricing in Singapore

Government and policy makers today face the pressing problem of managing road congestion in urban areas. This paper details the experience of Singapore and the effort made to curb vehicular increase on the roads using a state-of-the-art regulated Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) scheme. Specifically, the paper looks at the public policy effort to forge ahead with road pricing, prepare the island for extensive congestion management, and cap the on-road vehicular population to ensure a smoother flow of commercial transport and distribution.     

Achieving genuinely dynamic road user charging: issues with a GNSS-based approach

A variety of approaches to road user charging (RUC) for reducing congestion and raising revenue to maintain and improve transport infrastructure is in place in many countries; examples of such RUC include: an Electronic Fee Collection System in Singapore, Cordon Pricing in Oslo City in Norway, Zoned Based Pricing in London and Distance-Based Pricing (also called Pay-As-You-Drive) in Germany and Switzerland. With the development of satellite technologies, the introduction of dynamic pricing becomes possible, affording an opportunity for RUC to fully reflect the ‘Polluter Pays Principle’. This paper provides critical and comparative assessments of existing road user charging (RUC) systems with reference to technological limitations and public and political acceptability. The paper then goes on to demonstrate a system architecture for a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based dynamic road user charging system capable of considering dynamic variables. Finally we consider the feasibility of the proposed system in relation to technology readiness and public acceptability. We then consider some potential wider benefits from the introduction of a comprehensive system that could be highlighted to justify the cost of development and implementation as well as to improve public and political acceptability. The paper ends with conclusions and future research directions.     

Potential cost savings of frequent flyer miles for business travel

The mileage redemption strategy is a procedure used by many business firms to reduce air travel costs, in which the frequent flyer miles of traveling employees accumulated during business trips are applied to their future business trips to obtain “free” air tickets. This paper presents a framework that investigates how the frequent flyer miles can be used in the most effective way to reduce air travel costs by those firms that are either using the mileage redemption strategy or considering the use of the strategy. The framework can be implemented quite easily by a spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.     

Willingness to spend and road pricing rates

Using a theoretical model of urban transport system the paper examines the influence of distribution of willingness to spend within the urban population on road pricing rates. It shows that the rates that must be imposed in an urban area in order to maintain pollutant concentration and congestion due to traffic within acceptable levels is heavily dependent on the distribution of the urban population’s willingness to spend. This fact severely limits the reliability of any method for calculating road pricing rates based on theoretical analysis, so that an experimental approach seems necessary. The paper shows that a relation exists between the toll rate per kilometer of trip and the average traffic congestion, which is typical of each urban area and can be determined experimentally by successively imposing three different rates and measuring the corresponding congestion levels. The relation can then be used to determine the pricing scheme when the purpose of road pricing is to maintain both the congestion and the environmental effects due to urban traffic below acceptable thresholds. An example shows how the model can help policymakers in decision-making processes.     

A vehicle quota integrated with road usage pricing: A mechanism to complete the phase-out of high fixed vehicle taxes in Singapore

This expository paper suggests a way to integrate a vehicle quota with usage based charging, including road pricing. It thereby challenges assumptions that ownership control requires high fixed vehicle costs. It focuses on Singapore, which famously has high purchase taxes and a Vehicle Quota System. These are effective but as a result of arguments against high fixed vehicle taxes, Singapore's authorities are gradually relaxing ownership control and increasing reliance on usage charges. This paper proposes a mechanism to ‘variabilise’ fixed taxes, including the vehicle permit price, in a way that is compatible with the vehicle quota. In particular, it proposes to integrate the vehicle quota with a new generation of electronic road pricing. This could make Singapore's shift to usage-based charging more efficient, complete and flexible while retaining the option to control vehicle numbers precisely.     

Research challenges in modelling urban road pricing: An overview

This article introduces the contributions of this special issue on modelling of urban road pricing and its implementation. The issue focuses on the design of urban road pricing schemes, and their spatial and temporal impacts, using quantitative transport (and land use) models. The policy implications of road pricing, including welfare and equity aspects, are studied for Paris, Brussels and Oslo using state of the art planning models. The issue is completed with a study of public acceptability and the upcoming road-pricing trial in Stockholm, and a review paper on the history of thought and future prospects of road pricing.     

Why we fail to reduce urban road traffic volumes: Does it matter how planners frame the problem?

If the objective of reducing urban road traffic volumes and GHG emissions from traffic is to be achieved, the way in which land use and transport systems in cities are planned and developed needs to change. Despite apparent agreement that this should be done and how it could be done, cities continue to be planned and developed in ways that cause and allow growth in urban road traffic volumes. In this paper we ask how planners frame the ‘transport problem’, and how their framing of the problem affects urban planning, the resulting plans and developments and the urban road traffic volumes. The discussions are based on findings from a case study, a survey and interviews with planning practitioners.     

Developing land use and transport PSS: Meaningful information through a dialogue between modelers and planners

One of the key barriers to integration of land use and transport planning is the lack of a “common language” (i.e. tools, instruments, indicators) that can support planners from both domains in developing shared visions and integrated strategies. Many of such tools and indicators have been developed in recent years, but not so many are implemented in practice. In this paper a new, participatory development approach for planning support systems (PSS) is proposed, termed “mediated planning support” (MPS) that addresses bottlenecks blocking this implementation. It is founded on insights from knowledge management, system dynamics and software innovation and is applied in the Greater Region of Amsterdam. This paper discusses the evolution of the PSS, highlighting the most useful elements which can be applied in other land use and transport planning projects. It offers insights for practitioners and researchers interested in land use and transport planning integration and for professionals that are dealing with supporting planning with information and technologies.     

Optimisation models for the urban parking pricing problem

Parking pricing strategies are important tools for rebalancing the modal split between private car and transit systems in urban areas. Indeed, high congestion levels are mainly due to users' preference for the private car system. In order to obtain a more balanced modal split it is possible, together with an improvement in transit system quality, to set fees on the use of private cars through road pricing and/or parking pricing strategies. Parking pricing strategies are simpler, since they can be managed without adopting advanced technologies. In this paper some parking pricing strategies are proposed and some optimisation models are formalised.