Congestion Charging The International Perspective

1
Congestion Charging - The International
Perspective

• Dr Nick Ayland
• Transport Travel Research Ltd

2
Structure

• Background
• Congestion charging options
• Examples from around the world
• Lessons to be learned
• Summary

3
Historic context

• Congestion charging not a new idea
• Principles advanced by economists in the 1920s
• Research been done since 1960s
• UK landmark - Smeed Report 1964
• London supplementary licensing study 1973
• Singapore area licensing scheme 1975

4
Historic context

• Interest taken off over past 25 years
• Congestion problems have grown
• Greater awareness of environmental consequences
• Technological advances - technical feasibility

5
Area licensing and entry permit

• Licence to use the highway within a defined area
  (eg. London) or to enter that area (eg. Edinburgh
  proposal)
• Simple to understand
• No in-vehicle electronics necessary
• Doesnt charge for every trip - restraint effect
  diluted
• Practical restrictions on numbers of charged
  areas and complexity of tariff

6
Cordon charging schemes

• Cordon of charging points
• Charge per crossing
• Every trip crossing cordon is charged
• Flexibility - possibility of shoulder charges /
  peak / off-peak etc
• EFC requires in-vehicle equipment

7
Multi Cordon and Zone Charging

• Multi-cordon - 2 or more concentric cordons
• Zone-based - zone boundaries intercept
  circumferential as well as radial movements
• Finer level of influence
• Charging patterns can better reflect problem
  traffic movements
• Reduces boundary problems
• More expensive to implement
• More complex to understand

8
Distance Based Charging

• Charges based on measured distance travelled
  within charged area
• Should be v. good at influencing demand
• Generally requires VPS
• Expensive to implement at present
• Butbeing looked at

9
United Kingdom

• London Supplementary Licensing study 1973
• London Congestion Charging research programme
  1992-5
• Bristol (ELGAR, INTERCEPT) and
• Leicester (LERTS) road pricing trials
• Studies in cities such as Leeds, Nottingham,
  Belfast, Birmingham (1999 onwards)
• PROGRESS demonstrations / studies in Bristol and
  Edinburgh 2000-2004
• Durham Congestion Charging scheme 2002
• London Congestion Charging Scheme 2003

10
Norway

• Bergen, Oslo, Trondheim, Kristiansand, Stavanger
  and others
• Cordon charging
• Original aim to raise revenue
• Low charges - all day
• Traffic volumes reduced
• Bergen 6-7 for 5NOK (45-70p)
• Oslo 6-10 for 11 NOK (1-1.50)
• Trondheim - zonal charging
• Bergen being refocused as a
• congestion charging scheme

11
The Netherlands

• 1980s - Protol, Autol proposals developed and
  researched
• Early 1990s - Spitsvignet - peak hour licensing
• 1994 - Rekening Rijden
• - comprehensive road pricing
• in the Randstad
• 2001 Rekening Rijden shelved
• Current proposal - Mobimiles - distance based
• Aim is to be operational in 2006
• All scheme proposals have fallen on political
  grounds

12
Sweden

• Interest since 1980s
• Stockholm and Gothenburg
• Significant work on Stockholm scheme 1991-1997
• Dropped in 1997
• Gothenburg PROGRESS trials
• SNRA review of options 2003
• Proposals have been made since then with view to
  2005 implementation in Stockholm

13
Singapore ALS scheme

• Paper licence based entry permit scheme
• 1975 to 1998
• Scheme adjusted 14 times
• Significant impacts
• Journey to work by PT 33 1974 67 1994
• AM peak inbound car flows in 1992 approx half of
  pre-scheme flows

14
Singapore ERP scheme

• Introduced in 1998
• Replaced paper ALS scheme and adjusted area
• Smart card EFC
• Early results - additional traffic reduction
• 17 AM peak reduction into charged area
• 14.6 over whole day
• Spreading into pre-peak
• Monitoring and adjustment

15
Hong Kong

• 1983 - 85 Electronic Road Pricing Feasibility
  Study
• Multi-cordon charging scheme design
• Successful trial of ERP technology
• 1985 - rejected by District Boards
• 1997 - 99 major Feasibility Study
• Looked at both DSRC and VPS solutions
• Technological trials
• 2001 - HK government shelved idea again

16
Other Asia

• Seoul - Namsan 1 and 3 tunnels
• Charge for SOVs introduced 1996
• Reported 10 traffic volume reduction (1998)
• Expansion to area charging scheme been considered
• Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok - studies in 70s, 80s
• Japan - Tokyo Metropolitan Government looking at
  congestion charging since 2000

17
USA

• Subject of research for some 20 years
• Congestion charging for facility use
• Area pricing concepts not seen as so appropriate
• Partly because of decentralised land use in many
  US cities
• Variable congestion-related charges on some
  existing bridges and facilities
• PANYNJ toll bridges - 20 peak hour premium
  reported 4-7 traffic reduction

18
USA

• HOT lanes - Value Pricing concept
• Travellers pay to use spare capacity on dedicated
  HOV lanes
• SR91 - Orange County,California - 4 new HOT lanes
  1995
• San Diego - HOT lane created on I-15 in 1996
  sensitive to demand since 1998
• Katy and NorthWest Freeways, Houston - HOT lane
  HOV-2 pay 2, HOV-3 go free

19
Key lessons - politics

• Politically difficult thing to do
• Take account of local considerations
• Perceived to restrain established freedoms
• Schemes fall by the wayside
• Long time to build up public acceptance and
  political confidence
• Needs a political champion

20
Key lessons - public acceptance

• An adequate level of public acceptance is key
• Thorough consultation / communication
• Must be part of a package
• Be clear what the objectives are
• Say what revenue will be used for
• Ensure that realistic alternatives are adequately
  considered and presented
• Consider equity issues and include mitigation
  measures

21
Key lessons - significant impacts

• Evidence from implemented schemes
• Significant congestion reduction effect
• Borne out by London

22
Key lessons - technology works!

• Electronic licensing
• Electronic tag technology
• Integration with smart cards
• All been shown to work
• Satellite-based positioning systems still being
  proven
• Likely to form a future option if prices are
  driven down

23
Summary

• Different types of congestion charging can be
  used to manage and reduce traffic demand
• Several examples of implementations around the
  world
• Many, many more studies and research programmes!
• Lessons to be learned from successes and failures
  - politics, public acceptance, impacts,
  technology
• Use that experience to maximise chances of success