Road Pricing

This paper utilizes a unique survey data set of toll revenue collection on New York City bridges administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Bridges and Tunnels (MTA Bridges and Tunnels). This data set, which contains detailed information on road user income and location, is analyzed by use of Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients (described in more detail below) of burden on users of various toll facilities (both value-priced and fixed-rate tolls)
in the New York–New Jersey region. The authors develop empirical estimates of the social equity conditions on the existing priced facilities. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy solutions to address equity concerns and market power conditions.

Congestion on roads results in infrastructural deficiencies including massive delays, greater fatalities, and enhanced mental stresses, reduced transit efficiency, and increased travel costs. Traffic is a major problem specifically in the central area of the Lahore city. This study is aimed at understanding the traffic congestion from the stakeholders' perspective and suggesting congestion mitigation measures. A sample of 365 respondents was included through the administration of the questionnaire survey to record the explanatory variables. For this purpose, random cluster sampling method was employed to select respondents (135 pedestrians, 107 shopkeepers, 116 motorists). In-depth interviews were conducted with 7 individuals from Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) and Department of Transportation Engineering and Management (DTEM), about their perceptions of traffic management in the Lahore city. The results are described in the form of statistics of the data, qualitatively and quantitatively. The study has shown that the illegal parking on roadside, bad attitude of motorists and shop keepers, encroachments and running business on streets are the primary reasons for traffic congestion. These traffic congestions are hindering the efficient movements of the flow entities and causing mental stresses in the local residents. The findings of this study endorse that strict enforcement of traffic laws, provision of adequate parking spaces, provision of overhead pedestrian bridges , and education of traffic rules among masses could help to manage the traffic congestion in the central area of Lahore city.

This paper examines the interrelationships between public transport and road pricing at both theoretical and empirical grounds. First, the main decision parameters of the interplay between road pricing and public transport are reviewed and appropriate methodological approaches are identified. A set of policies which aim at improving urban public transport ridership and reducing private vehicle use, are considered on the basis of a flexible consumer demand system and evaluated through simulation experiments. The experiments focus on the hypothetical implementation of a national distance-based road charging policy package in Greece. The simulation results indicate that a suitably designed policy package can significantly enhance modal split in favor of public transport without significantly increasing the level of road user charges. To be more specific, for a nation-wide scheme, a combination of an optimal vehicle-km charge (in terms of the optimal fuel price index share required to achieve the desired urban public transport expenditure share) with a half-fare policy results in a considerable reduction of the private vehicle expenditure share, but with a much lower level of road user charge. For the highly urbanized region of Attica, the imposition of the optimal vehicle-km charge per se (without affecting urban transit fares) can provide the largest benefits, in terms of considerably reducing private vehicle share and attaining the target level of urban public transport share.

The main goal of this research is to contribute to the better informed policy based on the concept of the sustainable urban mobility and traffic management in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria. For this purposes it explores the basics of necessary conditions and the public acceptance in particular under which the eventual implementation of congestion charging is possible. The following work elaborates on: the literature overview; analysis of the accumulated experience and particularly on three case studies of cities considered as ones of the best examples for successful congestion charging implementation approach; analysis of the current urban traffic management system and prevailing policy in Sofia and the contribution and feedback provided by a selected panel of experts and responses, observations and recommendations received.

Almost all road infrastructure is treated as a public good and seen as a governmental obligation. But roads differ from other public goods such as national defense in both non-rivalry and nonexclusiveness features. Moreover, Financing construction and maintenance of road infrastructure is challenging because in most countries, government revenues for road construction and maintenance are insufficient. Here, the idea of road privatization is introduced as a possible alternative. Although there are many political and societal hindrances in  implementing this idea, its potential to solve problems in transportation is indisputable. The road owner pays the government for the externalities produced from his property (pollutions or accidents) but can make money by charging users (passing the externalities burden to users, while easing congestion and free rider problems) and because the road is privately constructed and owned, the opportunity cost of the road construction and maintenance is better accounted for. By assigning the road’s property to private sectors, the supply side might become more efficient based on the transformation from a publicly subsidized market to an open market framework. The equity problem of the new pricing scheme can be partially solved with a rebate policy similar to credit-based congestion pricing (CBCP).

Obiettivo dello studio è stata l'individuazione delle problematiche connesse alla realizzazione di un sistema di Road Pricing per la Città di Milano, valutando ipotesi alternative di cordone e differenti livelli tariffari. Si sono valutati i possibili effetti di carattere urbanistico ed economico, le ricadute sul sistema di trasporto, nonché i tempi, i costi ed i ricavi per la realizzazione.
Si è predisposto uno strumento conoscitivo, costruito con l'apporto di esperienze consolidate nelle differenti discipline coinvolte e di dati rilevati sistematicamente, che potrà essere una base di valutazione tecnica ed economica per una scelta di pianificazione della mobilità che coinvolge non solo Milano ma l'intero hinterland.

Economists wishing to analyse road congestion and road pricing have usually relied on link-based speed-flow relationships. These may provide a poor description of urban congestion, which mainly arises from delays at intersections. Using the simulation model SATURN, we investigate the second-best proportional traffic reduction and find that linear speed-flow relations describe network flows quite well in eight English towns, though

In order to abate the negative consequences of traffic congestion, implementation of congestion pricing is a matter of time demand nowadays. Congestion pricing will help to encourage the use of public transportation facilities. This paper conducted a comprehensive overview of congestion charging systems in different countries and reviewed its benefits. The study considered congestion charging experiences in Central London, Singapore, Stockholm and Hong Kong. According to our review across the developed countries it is found that congestion price can reduce congestion by 15 to 25% and increase public transportation ridership by 20 to 40%. Travel speed is almost same as the percentage of reduced traffic volume. It is also seen that car trips in city centres are dropped by 20 to 70%. Implementation of congestion pricing reduces the emission of greenhouse gases more than 15%. In developed cities implementation of congestion pricing is easy because of proper funding and well organized political environment. But for developing countries like Bangladesh it is a challenging issue due to insufficient funding, political restriction and lower socio economic condition. Although there are many difficulties in Bangladesh, congestion pricing is one of the potential solutions to alleviate traffic congestion problems. After evaluating worldwide congestion pricing success congestion charge is a reality based project to overcome congestion problem and promote public transportation facilities.

Keywords: Congestion pricing, Traffic congestion, Public transportation.

As a result of increasing road congestion and road pricing, modelling the temporal response of travellers to transport policy interventions has rapidly emerged as a major issue in many practical transport planning studies. A substantial body of research is therefore being carried out to understand the complexities involved in modelling time of day choice. These models are contributing substantially to

This paper offers a general overview of the road pricing concept. It first examines the common objectives used in road pricing, namely (a) congestion reduction; (b) raising profits; (c) social welfare maximization; etc. Then, it explores various types of road pricing, including two major ones: (1) road tolls and (2) congestion pricing charges. Next, general modeling approaches used for estimating the impacts of road pricing are discussed. Finally, the paper concludes with a checklist explaining how to promote a successful road pricing scheme.

The nation's growth and the need to meet mobility, environmental, and energy objectives place demands on public transit systems. Current systems, some of which are old and in need of upgrading, must expand service area, increase service frequency, and improve efficiency to serve these demands. Research is necessary to solve operating problems, to adapt appropriate new technologies from other industries, and to introduce innovations into the transit industry. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) serves as one of the principal means by which the transit industry can develop innovative near-term solutions to meet demands placed on it. The need for TCRP was originally identified in TRB Special Report 213—Research for Public Transit: New Directions, published in 1987 and based on a study sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration—now the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). A report by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Transportation 20...

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 95: Chapter 14 -- Road Value Pricing - Traveler Response to Transportation System Changes focuses on automobile-oriented pricing, including discussion of its impact on other travel modes. This report is part of TCRP’s Traveler Response to Transportation System Changes Handbook series. The overarching objective of the Traveler Response to Transportation System Changes Handbook