Optimizing the benefits of urban road user charging

Traffic congestion is a feature of most modern cities but attempts to control it or limit its effects have met with only modest success. There is significant and continuing interest in the concept of charging city vehicle users, although apart from the use of parking charges actual operational schemes are few and far between. In this paper, we compare three alternative charging policies using a simplified model of travel demand and supply, which we combine with cost benefit techniques. The charging policies are area-based charging in which users pay to locate in or enter an area, terminal-charging based on supplementary parking fees in residential and non-residential locations and distance-based charging which is a charge related to how far users travel. The model allows for behavioural effects resulting from trip diversion and demand suppression, as well as capacity restraint (speed-flow feedback effects based on limited route capacity). In the case study, we parameterize the model using data and geographical dimensions based on London. We show that area based charging delivers the least benefits whilst a hybrid policy based on terminal and distance-based charges delivers the most. Because it is of topical interest, we compare our results and predictions with the Mayor's strategy for London, which is an area-based scheme. We conclude that the revenue generated using a hybrid policy would be as great as for an area based scheme whilst at the same time delivering substantially greater benefits to road users in terms of travel time and other savings.     

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.     

The impact of transport on social exclusion processes with specific emphasis on road user charging

This paper looks at the ways in which transport can impact on social exclusion processes by examining how the introduction of road user charging may affect residents of Bristol. It gives an overview of the concept of transport and social inclusion/exclusion, describes key themes emerging from DfT-funded research conducted in the city and reflects on the importance of consideration of these themes to the policy's successful implementation. By exploring road user charging from both collective and individual perspectives, the paper illustrates how this congestion charging policy could promote social inclusion.     

Lessons from travel planning and road user charging for policy-making: through imperfection to implementation

In 1978 Gunn published a seminal paper which explained why implementation of policy is so difficult. The paper set out 10 conditions, which should be satisfied if perfect implementation is to be achieved. Whilst it is clear that perfect implementation is not possible in the real world, and Gunn has subsequently been criticised for his ‘top-down’ approach to decision-making, these conditions do, nonetheless act as an effective framework through which to evaluate good practice in the implementation of urban transport policy instruments. Two urban transport policy instruments, which form an increasingly important element of the Government's strategy in the UK for reducing the demand for private transport as set out in a New Deal for Transport (DETR, 1998), are travel plans and road user charging. Travel plans are a relatively recent policy instrument in the UK and seek to reduce trips to work by car by providing, through individual employers, a targeted, integrated package of incentives and disincentives to influence commuters' choice of mode of travel to and from the workplace. Road user charging, whereby motorists are charged for the road space they use in urban areas, seeks to reduce the congestion problem via the price mechanism, and has a longer history in the UK. To date the implementation of travel plans in the UK has been more widespread than that of road user charging. It is fair to say, however, that the widespread implementation of both urban transport policy instruments is a complex and sensitive area for decision-makers.The aim of this paper is firstly, to analyse travel plans and road user charging in the UK with respect to the conditions for perfect implementation put forward by Gunn and secondly, to highlight the elements of good practice, pertinent to the implementation of road user charging, in the process of the implementation of travel plans. Overall, the paper uses Gunn's theoretical framework as a basis for recommendations for better decision-making that will aid the wider implementation of both travel plans and road user charging internationally.     

The implementation of road user charging and the lessons learnt: the case of Valletta,Malta

Whilst the theory on road pricing is well developed there are only a few schemes operating worldwide with others which have failed to be implemented. One scheme which has received relatively little attention is the Controlled Vehicular Access System (CVA) recently implemented in Valletta, Malta. This paper draws on the experience of Valletta with a move from a fixed annual charge (V-licence) for access into the city to a time-based road user charge implemented in May 2007. The aims of this paper are to identify the reasons why a fixed charge was initially introduced; to review the literature related to implementation of road user charging schemes around the world; to compare the V-licence with the CVA and identify the issues relating to the change from one scheme to another. Through the direct involvement of one of the authors in the design and implementation of the road user charge in Valletta, this paper is based on archival data, direct observation and qualitative interviews. This paper concludes on what lessons can be learnt from the case of Valletta for other cities contemplating the introduction of a road user charge.     

The impact of user heterogeneity on road franchising

A model is presented for analyzing Pareto-efficient build-operate-transfer toll road contracts. The formulation simultaneously allows maximizing social welfare and private profit when road users vary in their value-of-time (VOT). The failure rate and mean residual functions of the VOT distribution are used to characterize Pareto-efficient solutions. Service quality, measured in terms of the volume-to-capacity ratio, is shown to be better than, identical to, or lower than the socially optimal level depending on the curvature of the mean residual VOT function. The outcomes of various regulatory regimes are examined as well.     

Road user charging and business performance: identifying the processes of economic change

This paper presents the results of a survey of specialist knowledge concerning the processes of economic change that could impact business performance in city centres surrounded by road user charging cordons. The responses to charging operate in a complex and cyclical process, but the general trajectory and pattern of impacts show that charging with hypothecation may in the longer term enhance business performance in city centres. However, an overriding concern is how long it will take before the improvements reach their full effect. A number of key issues are identified for implementation of charging interventions including the need for greater awareness of the concerns of the business community, and their involvement in the planning process.     

Air transport security user charge pricing: An investigation of flat per-passenger charge vs. Ad Valorem user charge schemes

Following the 9/11 terrorist incidence, most countries introduced security charges on air travel, mostly in the form of flat rate per passenger. However, it is clear that such flat rate per passenger may not be socially optimal as implied by previous studies on airport pricing including those utilizing Ramsey pricing. Thus, an alternative pricing scheme may enhance social welfare. In this paper, recognizing the competitive reality of today’s airline markets we formulate and solve numerically a differentiated duopoly model in order to compare welfare implications of adopting the two most convenient forms of aviation security pricing: (1) charging a flat rate per passenger; and (2) charging Ad Valorem user fees. Since obtaining meaningful analytical results requires unrealistically restrictive assumptions, we designed a numerical experiment and conducted over 5000 simulations using a wide range of possible values of firms’ conduct parameters, extent of product differentiation, and market share split between full service airline (FSA) and low cost carrier (LCC). Our results show that Ad Valorem user fee is superior to the current policy of charging flat rate security fee in all cases except for very few unrealistic cases. The same conclusion can be directly applied to all other per-passenger fees or taxes being collected by governments and/or airports. This is an important finding given that taxes and user charges now account for up to 30% of the total ticket prices of short distance domestic travel in US.     

Decentralizing Pareto-efficient network flow/speed patterns with hybrid schemes of speed limit and road pricing

This paper examines the potential of hybrid schemes of speed limit and road pricing for decentralizing Pareto-efficient flow/speed patterns that minimize total travel time and total emissions simultaneously. Both link flows and speeds are treated as independent variables in our bi-objective formulation. The resulting Pareto frontier is thus weakly dominant to that in previous literature. For any such favorable Pareto-efficient flow and speed pattern, we establish the existence of hybrid schemes of speed limits and non-negative/revenue-neutral tolls, whose set of user equilibrium (UE) solutions contains the Pareto-efficient one, and provide sufficient conditions under which the Pareto-efficient solution can be certainly obtained.     

An urban consolidation center in the city of Copenhagen: A simulation study

Urban consolidation centers (UCCs) have a key role in many initiatives in urban logistics, yet few of them are successful in the long run. The high costs often prevent attracting a sufficient number of UCC users. In this paper, we study sustainable business models and the supporting role of administrative policies. We perform an agent-based simulation applied to the city of Copenhagen and collect data from a variety of sources to model the agents. Both the data and case setup are validated by means of expert interviews. We test 1,458 schemes that combine several administrative measures and cost settings. Most schemes yield significant environmental benefits; many of them reduce the truck kilometers driven by about 65% and emissions by about 70%. The key challenge is to identify schemes that are also financially sustainable. We show the importance of committing carriers to the UCC as soon as possible, as carriers potentially generate the bulk of the revenue. Subsequent revenues may be generated by offering value-adding services to receivers. Based on the numerical experiments, we pose various propositions that aid in providing favorable conditions for a UCC, improving its chances of long-term success.     

A methodology based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process for the quantitative assessment of emergency preparedness and response in road tunnels

The paper presents and discusses a methodology to judge the effectiveness of the preparedness activities in case of accidents in road tunnels by considering the system from several points of view (i.e. structural/technical, organizational/human, and contextual). Due to the different nature of the criteria involved in the assessment activity, we chose to apply the Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology (Saaty, T.L. (2006). Fundamentals of Decision Making and Priority Theory with the Analytic Hierarchy Process, RWS Publications, Pittsburgh) that allows comparing and appraising quantitatively variables that are incommensurable and that may originate from distinct and separate areas. The paper identifies the hierarchic structure necessary to measure both the performance of the emergency response system for road tunnel accidents and the weights for assessing their relative importance. Finally, the methodology is applied to a case study on a transnational road tunnel between Italy and France to show a feasible evaluation of the sensitivity of the structure to the input variables in order to find the most valuable enhancing and improving actions.     

A review of spatial localization methodologies for the electric vehicle charging infrastructure

With view to the high share of the transport sector in total energy consumption, e-mobility should play an important role within the transition of the energy systems. Policymakers in several countries consider electric vehicles (EV) as an alternative to fossil-fueled vehicles. In order to allow for the development of EV, the charging infrastructure has to be set up at locations with high charging potential, identified by means of various criteria such as demand density or trip length. Many methodologies for locating charging stations (CS) have been developed in the last few years. First, this paper presents a broad overview of publications in the domain of CS localization. A classification scheme is proposed regarding modeling theory and empirical application; further on, models are analyzed, distinguishing between users, route or destination centricity of the approaches and outcomes. In a second step, studies in the field of explicit spatial location planning are reviewed in more detail, that is, in terms of their target criteria and the specialization of underlying analytical processes. One divergence of these approaches lies in the varying level of spatial planning, which could be crucial depending on the planning requirements. It is striking that almost all CS locating concepts are proposed for urban areas. Other constraints, such as the lack of extensive empirical EV traffic data for a better understanding of the driving behavior, are identified. This paper provides an overview of the CS models, a classification approach especially considering the problem’s spatial dimension, and derives perspectives for further research.     

The role of road safety in a sustainable urban mobility: An econometric assessment of the Spanish NUTS-3 case

There has been a structural change in mobility in major Spanish cities in recent decades, with a switch to the pattern followed in other countries in the area. A shift has taken place from a traditional Mediterranean model to a North American city stereotype, with uncontrolled motorization and major implications for public health. This article specifically analyzes negative road safety-related externalities that result from this process, given that the trend seems to show a steady decline in road safety accidents on urban roads in Spain, with major differences among NUTS-3 provinces. The objective is to evaluate the factors that empirically explain these differences for the 2003–2013 period using a panel data analysis. Results show that a key role is played by urban development variables, such as population density and improvements in health services, with advances linked to more accessible and sustainable urban transportation, such as the Smart City concept. Not only does this article close a gap in the literature, but the findings can also serve as a practical guide for the development and implementation of urban mobility and road safety plans, and reveals the special needs of the most vulnerable groups.     

The impacts of road tolling: A review of Norwegian experience

Road tolling has been used extensively for funding of national roads in Norway since 1982. The article, which is primarily based on review of literature, identifies the impacts of tolling in four key policy areas: economic efficiency, regional development, regional redistribution and democracy. Toll financing may change the ranking of projects but does hardly reduce construction costs. The recurrent budget has been quite stable and toll revenues therefore represent net additional resources for road investment. Regionally, tolling has led to a shift of road investments to more central areas. Tolling has increased local political influence compared to national influence.     

Analysis of job accessibility promoted by ride hailing services: A proposed method

The concept of accessibility as an element of the interaction between land use and transportation is widely applied in studies of urban mobility. The idea that the accessibility of a place can be measured by the variety and quantity of opportunities available at the destination has led to the creation and adaptation of various indicators. The new mode of transport known as ride hailing (RH) has grown in recent years throughout the world, making it necessary to evaluate its impact on modern society, mainly its interaction with other modes. Therefore, this article presents a method to calculate the accessibility of formal jobs generated by public transportation (PT) and RH, to compare the results. For this purpose, we made adaptations to two indicators commonly used in the literature: the Gini index combined with the Lorenz curve; and the location quotient (LQ). The integrated structure is demonstrated in the context of a case study conducted in four districts of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. By applying the proposed method, we found that in regions with high commercial concentration and number of jobs, with the fares charged in the city, the accessibility to formal jobs generated by RH is greater than that associated with PT when more than two passengers travel together. This information on the competition or complementarity of the two modes can be useful to make decisions for regulation of the transport sector in general, and ride hailing in particular.     

Spatial and socio-economic analysis of public transport systems in large cities: A case study for Belo Horizonte,Brazil

The main goal of this article is to evaluate the relationship between the spatial distribution of the population of the city of Belo Horizonte, one of the largest cities in South America, and its public transport network, seeking to ascertain whether the current bus network is able to meet the needs of the population. The methodology was based on data processing and vector information from different sources through spatial analysis tools. As expected, the results revealed a greater concentration of routes and bus stops in the central region of Belo Horizonte, which is the main commercial center of the municipality and its metropolitan region. However, the results suggest evidences of a disadvantage for the population with lower income, especially those living on the periphery. A possible explanation for this disadvantage is the invisibility of these communities due to their high level of irregular occupation. Under the eyes of public transport planning, they are not recognized, and, theoretically, do not generate demand for lines and bus stops     

Modelling and evaluation of road pricing in Paris

This article describes the impacts of road pricing in Ile-de-France, a region that includes Paris. The morning peak is studied using METROPOLIS: a dynamic network simulator that treats endogenously travellers' mode, departure time and route-choice decisions. Time-independent tolls on selected links, time-varying cordon tolls, and a network-wide toll proportional to travel time are considered. Welfare gains from the link and cordon tolls are relatively small. The comprehensive travel-time-based toll yields much higher benefits. In all cases, benefits to users amount to a large fraction of toll revenues and exceed the monetised value of reductions in noise, accidents and vehicle emissions.     

A time-period choice model for road freight transport in Flanders based on stated preference data

This paper presents one of the first models explaining the choice of time-period in road freight transport. Policies that would shift some fraction of the trucks from peak to earlier and later periods will contribute to the reduction of congestion. Therefore there is an increasing interest in modelling the time-period sensitivity of road freight transport to changes in travel time and cost by period. The model developed here is based on a stated preference survey amongst receivers of goods in Flanders and was implemented in the strategic freight transport model of the Flemish authorities.     

Analysis of user satisfaction to promote public transportation: A pattern-recognition approach focusing on out-of-vehicle time

Public transportation has been regarded as one of the most sustainable forms of transport, because of which local governments have put efforts in increasing the mode share of public transportation. Recently, not only level of service but also user satisfaction has been focused on for the assessment of transport policy; however, several points have been overlooked in previous research, such as attribute-based satisfaction, the relationship between level of service and satisfaction, and user expectation. This paper deals with these issues while assuming the heterogeneity of satisfaction, which is an indicator of perception. Out-of-vehicle times, particularly headway and access time, were selected in the analysis because they can affect travel behavior of current and potential public transportation customers. In this analysis, pattern-recognition models were applied, and public transportation users were segmented in terms of perception. The results suggest several notable recommendations for public transport policies and investigations.