|
Congestion pricing charges motorists a toll for using a
particular stretch of highway or bridge or for entering a particular area
("cordon tolls" for access to urban areas). It is a market or demand-based
strategy designed to encourage a shift of peak period trips to: a. off-peak
periods; b. to routes away from congested facilities or c. to alternative
modes (HOVs or transit) during the peak demand periods.
Congestion pricing proposes to monetarize and internalize the transportation
and environmental costs (delay, pollution, accidents) associated with
congestion, costs that are largely unaccounted for in the current transportation
system.
A distinction should be drawn between tolls to fund roadways ("road pricing")
and tolls to reduce congestion (congestion pricing or value pricing) as
these have different objectives and impacts. See our Telecommunications
Diagram on congestion
pricing for more information.
Key Results
Potential travel impacts:
- A change in the time of travel: shift of peak to off-peak traffic
with a consequent reduction of peak period traffic and a potential reduction
of total traffic.
- A shift in mode: from automobile to alternative travel modes.
- A shift in routes: to untolled roads or less tolled roads.
- Linked trips: more combination of activities on a single trip
- A change in destination of trips
- Land use: in the long-run land use patterns could be affected, in
ways that are still unclear. Some argue that it would discourage sprawl;
others believe it would increase decentralization.
- For the time being, research results in the U.S. seem to indicate
mostly shifts in travel time, routes and modest shifts to HOVs. The
results in Europe and Asia also indicate shifts in travel time, routes,
and more important, shifts to HOVs and a small percentage shift to transit.
This is likely due to more widespread transit systems in Europe and
Asia.
Benefits
- Reduction of peak-period and total congestion.
- Road savings: Reduction in the need for new construction to serve
the peak period demand. · Parking savings if total car trips are reduced.
- Enhancement of transportation choices: congestion pricing increases
transportation choices by offering additional options to travelers.
On an unpriced highway, the traveler essentially has two options: drive
in congestion or ride a bus that will also be delayed by congestion.
On a priced highway or one that has High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes,
the traveler actually has three options: a. drive free in congestion
b. ride a bus or take a carpool in the tolled lane without paying a
toll(s) or c. drive alone on the HOT lane(s) and pay a toll. This allows
consumers to choose the travel option that best suits their needs.
- Safety: reduced congestion may enhance road safety by reducing accidents.
Here the results are mixed because, while crashes are more common under
congested conditions, crashes that occur on less congested roads are
more severe due to higher speeds.
- Reduced emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases and reduced energy
consumption. Reduced congestion will reduce emissions of hydrocarbons,
carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide and will reduce fuel consumption.
If overall trips are reduced, emissions of nitrogen oxides will also
be reduced.
Costs
- Toll collections infrastructure, staffing and enforcement
- Inconvenience to motorists: mainly the time required to pay the tolls.
- Financial costs to consumers for paying the toll: this last element
is actually not a cost but an economic transfer from the travelers to
the toll authority. How this transfer affects the consumer ultimately
depends on how much she or he values the time savings and how the revenues
are used.
Equity
The equity of congestion pricing depends on how the collected revenues
are redistributed to travelers and on whether travel alternatives are
available. (Giulano 1994; Litman 1996). Congestion pricing will only be
inequitable and regressive if low-income drivers are not adequately compensated
for the higher tolls. Under the right redistribution policy most people
across income groups can be made better off (whether one chooses to wait
in congestion or pay to save time).
Implementation Challenges
Most technological components for congestion pricing (electronic toll
collection systems) have been tested and demonstrated throughout the world
and are ready for widespread deployment. The main challenge to the implementation
of congestion pricing is opposition from groups who consider themselves
worse off once pricing is established. Given the equity concerns with
congestion pricing and the fact that this concept is new to most travelers,
an incremental approach seems appropriate. By extension, one of the big
lessons learned from many of the congestion pricing projects is that marketing,
public education and involvement with the project, and transparency in
terms of toll revenue redistribution are essential to gain wide support
for the project.
Where is it Implemented?
- United States: San Diego: I-15 FasTrak, Orange County SR91, Houston
I-10 QuickRide.
- In the U.S. there are no congestion pricing cases where free lanes
are transformed into toll lanes. All the projects are either transformations
of underutilized HOV lanes into HOT lanes or toll reductions during
off-peak periods when tolls were already in existence.
- Asia: Singapore, Seoul, Hong Kong
- Europe: Stuttgart, Germany; Trondheim, Norway.
Author: Lauren Smith
|