Paying for Transportation: What's A Fair Price?

Equity gets defined differently by different interests at different times. Public officials think of equity in transportation finance in a very distinctive way from social scientists or transportation planners. This paper examines transportation pricing and finance equity from a variety of perspectives. The authors distinguish transportation finance and pricing equity from other forms of transportation equity and then discuss several competing theories of equity long debated by social philosophers. These theories serve as a basis for understanding the complex and often inconsistent notions of fairness that the public and elected officials have regarding the distribution of public resources and particularly transportation investments. The authors argue that most conflicts over transportation pricing and finance are rooted in philosophical differences over justice and equity and differing notions of the appropriate units of analysis--individuals, groups, or jurisdictions--for evaluating equity. An analytical framework is presented to help planners and policy makers untangle these two issues. This framework transcends the philosophical characterizations of equity to allow for a more practical consideration of transportation finance and pricing fairness. Lessons offered by some recent debates in transportation pricing and finance are considered. The current trend in transportation finance toward dedicated non-transportation-based taxes such as sales taxes, appears to be less fair than marginal cost transportation pricing such as congestion tolls. The authors conclude that while no scheme can satisfy all possible dimensions of equity, it is possible to offer comparative equity assessments of various approaches to transportation pricing and finance, and that efficiency and equity can coexist.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1177/0885412209347156
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/08854122
• Authors:
  • Taylor, Brian D
  • Norton, Alexandra Tassiello
• Publication Date: 2009-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 22-36
• Serial:
  • Journal of Planning Literature
  • Volume: 24
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Sage Publications, Incorporated
  • ISSN: 0885-4122
  • Serial URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/jpl

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Equity; Finance; Policy making; Pricing; Transportation planning; Transportation policy
• Subject Areas: Finance; Transportation (General); I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01157165
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 25 2010 2:01PM