Road Congestion Pricing in Europe


Book Description

. . . this book is an interesting collection of papers on the topic of road congestion pricing. . . The reader should find this collection to be both interesting and informative, but also quite thought-provoking. . . The papers also provide some very useful information about projects that have not worked or have not been implemented for various reasons and lessons that can be learnt from failures to implement and failures of pricing schemes. Peter R. Stopher, International Planning Studies In February 2003, the London Congestion Charging Scheme was introduced and in 2006 a similar policy was introduced in Stockholm. In both cases automobile traffic entering the cordon declined by about 20 percent. This book evaluates these and other similar programs exploring their implications for the United States. While there is increasing interest in road pricing in the US in many individual states, the motivation is often highway financing rather than congestion relief. The contributors argue that the prospects for extensive implementation in the US remain uncertain. Nevertheless, this book illustrates that the European experience suggests political feasibility is much less of a hurdle than was once considered and that congestion pricing would have a significant impact in reducing traffic as it did in Europe. This study s value lies in the fact that it examines road pricing in the real world and not simply from a theoretical viewpoint. As a comparative study it will appeal to both policymakers and academics in transportation economics and planning, urban economics, planning and economic geography.




Traffic Congestion


Book Description




Road Pricing and Provision


Book Description

Road pricing is not a new concept—toll roads have existed in Australia since Governor Macquarie established one from Sydney to Parramatta in 1811—and distance-based charging schemes have been trialled and implemented with varying success overseas. But how would full market reform of roads look in a federation like Australia? In its responses to the 2016 Australian Infrastructure Plan and the 2015 Competition Policy Review, the Australian Government explicitly supported investigating cost-reflective road pricing as a long-term reform option, and has committed to establishing a study chaired by an eminent Australian to look into the potential impacts of road pricing reform on road users. The challenges we face in this space are manifold and complex, and we still have a long road ahead of us. However, with advocacy for reform coming from interest groups as diverse as governments, private transport companies, peak industry bodies, policy think tanks and state motoring clubs, there is now more support than ever before for changing the way we provide for and fund our roads. This book seeks to advance the road reform agenda by presenting some of the latest thinking on road pricing and provision from a variety of disciplinary approaches—researchers, economists and public sector leaders. It stresses the need for reform to ensure Australians can enjoy the benefits of efficient and sustainable transport infrastructure as our population and major metropolitan cities continue to grow. Traffic congestion is avoidable, but we must act soon. The works presented here all point to the need for change—the expertise and the technology are available, and the various reform options have been mapped out in some detail. It is time for the policy debate to shift to how, rather than if, road reform should progress.




Road Pricing, the Economy and the Environment


Book Description

Economic growth and globalisation create traffic growth, leading to congestion, which again increases travel times and costs. Road pricing is an instrument that may efficiently reduce the negative impacts. This volume is a collection of research papers on the use of road pricing. The focus is on passenger transport, and the papers cover a wide range of approaches, including theoretical modelling and empirical studies of road pricing experience from different cities.




Road Traffic Congestion: A Concise Guide


Book Description

This book on road traffic congestion in cities and suburbs describes congestion problems and shows how they can be relieved. The first part (Chapters 1 - 3) shows how congestion reflects transportation technologies and settlement patterns. The second part (Chapters 4 - 13) describes the causes, characteristics, and consequences of congestion. The third part (Chapters 14 - 23) presents various relief strategies - including supply adaptation and demand mitigation - for nonrecurring and recurring congestion. The last part (Chapter 24) gives general guidelines for congestion relief and provides a general outlook for the future. The book will be useful for a wide audience - including students, practitioners and researchers in a variety of professional endeavors: traffic engineers, transportation planners, public transport specialists, city planners, public administrators, and private enterprises that depend on transportation for their activities.




Managing Urban Traffic Congestion


Book Description

Offers policy-oriented, research-based recommendations for effectively managing traffic and cutting excess congestion in large urban areas.







Congestion Pricing


Book Description




Equilibrium and Advanced Transportation Modelling


Book Description

Each chapter in Equilibrium and Advanced Transportation Modelling develops a topic from basic concepts to the state-of-the-art, and beyond. All chapters relate to aspects of network equilibrium. Chapter One advocates the use of simulation models for the representation of traffic flow movements at the microscopic level. Chapter Two presents travel demand systems for generating trip matrices from activity-based models, taking into account the entire daily schedule of network users. Chapter Three examines equilibrium strategic choices adopted by the passengers of a congested transit system, carefully addressing line selection at boarding and transfer nodes. Chapter Four provides a critical appraisal of the traditional process that consists in sequentially performing the tasks of trip generation, trip distribution, mode split and assignment, and its impact on the practice of transportation planning. Chapter Five gives an insightful overview of stochastic assignment models, both in the static and dynamic cases. Chapters Six and Seven investigate the setting of tolls to improve traffic flow conditions in a congested transportation network. Chapter Eight provides a unifying framework for the analysis of multicriteria assignment models. In this chapter, available algorithms are summarized and an econometric perspective on the estimation of heterogeneous preferences is given. Chapter Nine surveys the use of hyperpaths in operations research and proposes a new paradigm of equilibrium in a capacitated network, with an application to transit assignment. Chapter Ten analyzes the transient states of a system moving towards equilibrium, using the mathematical framework of projected dynamical systems. Chapter Eleven discusses an in-depth survey of algorithms for solving shortest path problems, which are pervasive to any equilibrium algorithm. The chapter devotes special attention to the computation of dynamic shortest paths and to shortest hyperpaths. The final chapter considers operations research tools for reducing traffic congestion, in particular introducing an algorithm for solving a signal-setting problem formulated as a bilevel program.




Carbon Pricing


Book Description

Carbon Pricing reflects upon and further develops the ongoing and worthwhile global debate into how to design carbon pricing, as well as how to utilize the financial proceeds in the best possible way for society. Ê The world has recently witnesse