Political acceptability of road pricing: will London confirm the theory?

The Mayor of London included proposals for a scheme to reduce congestion in his election manifesto and won the election. There is however great opposition from motorists. Road user charging in the UK was assessed within the framework of the preconditions necessary for perfect implementation of policies. It remains to be seen whether the fact that the preconditions are almost but not fully met will cause the London Congestion Charging Scheme to fail. Compliance with each of ten preconditions is discussed. There is an endless list of articles in the transport literature dealing with the public and acceptability of road user charging (and linked aspects such as equity). The general conclusion seems to be that drivers might be willing to pay if revenues are kept in the transport sector and used for example, to improve public transport. Additionally, public transport as a good and valid alternative to the car should be available at the time the scheme starts. The London scheme would be a success if the expected changes were achieved: traffic reduction of between 10 and 15%, travel time reduction and speeds increase, transfer from cars to public transport, annual net revenues of #130m. The scheme would be a failure if those objectives were not met. The paper highlights elements of good practice contained within the London congestion charging implementation which are relevant for other authorities throughout Europe considering such a strategy. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126595.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0860503429
• Authors:
  • ISON, S
  • RYE, T
  • SANTOS, G
• Publication Date: 2003

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: unpaginated
• Serial:
  • PROCEEDINGS OF THE EUROPEAN TRANSPORT CONFERENCE (ETC) 2003 HELD 8-10 OCTOBER 2003, STRASBOURG, FRANCE
  • Publisher: Association for European Transport (AET)
  • ISSN: 1474-9122

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Attitudes; Conferences; Improvements; Policy; Public transit; Road pricing; Speed; Travel time; Urban areas
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• ITRD Terms: 9000: Alternative; 2267: Attitude (psychol); 8525: Conference; 9108: Improvement; 697: Journey time; 173: Policy; 744: Public transport; 240: Road pricing; 5408: Speed; 8119: United Kingdom; 313: Urban area
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01013043
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• ISBN: 0-86050-342-9
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Dec 22 2005 8:24AM