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.