IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v41y2007i7p615-626.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Congestion and variable user charging as an effective travel demand management instrument

Author

Listed:
  • Hensher, David A.
  • Puckett, Sean M.

Abstract

Interest at the political level in congestion charging is gaining pace as cities struggle with ways to reduce the effects of growing traffic congestion on the liveability of cities. Despite a long history of promotion of a wide array of travel demand management (TDM) initiatives, very few have had a noticeable impact on the levels of traffic on the road networks of metropolitan areas. TDM success in this context has almost become 'band-aid' in the absence of a pricing strategy that not only promotes efficient use of the system but also hypothecates revenues to support essential complementary infrastructure and services such as public transport. This paper takes a look at the stream of pricing consciousness that is surfacing around the world. Although very few jurisdictions have implemented congestion charging, or any form of efficient variable car and truck user charging, the winds of change are well in place. The adage "it is not a matter of if but of when" seems to be the prevailing view. Our overview of global trends in positioning the debate and hopefully follow-through commitment to implementation provides a backdrop to papers submitted for this special issue on travel demand management. The predominance of papers on pricing is indicative of the priority that must be given to efficient charging and revenue disbursement.

Suggested Citation

  • Hensher, David A. & Puckett, Sean M., 2007. "Congestion and variable user charging as an effective travel demand management instrument," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 615-626, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:41:y:2007:i:7:p:615-626
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965-8564(06)00125-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Odd I. Larsen & Knut Østmoe, 2001. "The Experience of Urban Toll Cordons in Norway: Lessons for the Future," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 35(3), pages 457-471, September.
    2. Hensher, David A. & Puckett, Sean M., 2005. "Road user charging: The global relevance of recent developments in the United Kingdom," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 377-383, September.
    3. Margaret O'Mahony & Dermot Geraghty & Ivor Humphreys, 2000. "Distance and time based road pricing trial in Dublin," Transportation, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 269-283, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dieplinger, Maria & Fürst, Elmar, 2014. "The acceptability of road pricing: Evidence from two studies in Vienna and four other European cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 10-18.
    2. Hensher, David A. & Puckett, Sean M., 2005. "Road user charging: The global relevance of recent developments in the United Kingdom," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 377-383, September.
    3. David A. Hensher & Demi Chung, 2011. "Road Infrastructure and Institutional Reform: Tolling and Pricing," Chapters, in: Matthias Finger & Rolf W. Künneke (ed.), International Handbook of Network Industries, chapter 15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Vonk Noordegraaf, Diana & Annema, Jan Anne & van Wee, Bert, 2014. "Policy implementation lessons from six road pricing cases," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 172-191.
    5. Daniel Albalate & Germa Bel, 2008. "Shaping urban traffic patterns through congestion charging: What factors drive success or failure?," IREA Working Papers 200801, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Jan 2008.
    6. Velaga, Nagendra R. & Pangbourne, Kate, 2014. "Achieving genuinely dynamic road user charging: issues with a GNSS-based approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 243-253.
    7. Meng, Qiang & Liu, Zhiyuan & Wang, Shuaian, 2012. "Optimal distance tolls under congestion pricing and continuously distributed value of time," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 937-957.
    8. Börjesson , Maria & Kristoffersson, Ida, 2017. "The Swedish congestion charges: ten years on: - and effects of increasing charging levels," Working papers in Transport Economics 2017:2, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI).
    9. Hysing, Erik, 2015. "Citizen participation or representative government – Building legitimacy for the Gothenburg congestion tax," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-8.
    10. Fageda, Xavier & Flores-Fillol, Ricardo & Theilen, Bernd, 2022. "Price versus quantity measures to deal with pollution and congestion in urban areas: A political economy approach," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    11. Gutiérrez, Javier & Condeço-Melhorado, Ana Margarida & Martín, Juan Carlos & Román, Concepción, 2013. "Road pricing in the European Union: direct revenue transfer between countries," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 95-104.
    12. Georgina Santos & Laurent Rojey, 2004. "Distributional impacts of road pricing: The truth behind the myth," Transportation, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 21-42, February.
    13. Scott, Susan & Eakins, John, 2001. "Household Income Effects and Implementation Options," Book Chapters, in: Green and Bear it? Implementing Market-based Policies for Ireland's Environment - Proceedings of a Conference held on 10 May, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    14. Jean-Philippe Meloche, 2019. "Towards a New Era in Road Pricing? Lessons from the Experience of First Movers," CIRANO Working Papers 2019s-35, CIRANO.
    15. Taylor, Brian D. PhD & Kalauskas, Rebecca MA & Iseki, Hiroyuki, 2010. "Addressing Equity Challenges to Implementing Road Pricing," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt83r073fp, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    16. Kevin Washbrook & Wolfgang Haider & Mark Jaccard, 2006. "Estimating commuter mode choice: A discrete choice analysis of the impact of road pricing and parking charges," Transportation, Springer, vol. 33(6), pages 621-639, November.
    17. Börjesson, Maria & Kristoffersson, Ida, 2015. "The Gothenburg congestion charge. Effects, design and politics," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 134-146.
    18. Lana Krehic, 2022. "How do increases in electric vehicle use affect urban toll ring prices?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 193(3), pages 187-209, December.
    19. Theisen, Theis, 2020. "The impact of an urban toll ring on housing prices," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    20. Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Loder, Allister & Zheng, Zuduo, 2024. "A novel mobility consumption theory for road user charging," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:41:y:2007:i:7:p:615-626. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.