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    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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      <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
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    <item>
      <title>A Review of Pricing Strategies for Decarbonizing Transportation</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2717078</link>
      <description><![CDATA[California’s ability to achieve its climate and mobility goals depends on addressing the growing gap between transportation infrastructure needs and the declining effectiveness of traditional fuel tax revenues. As electric vehicle adoption rises, fuel efficiency improves, and demands for resilient, multimodal systems expand, new approaches to transportation funding and demand management are required. This paper examines a range of mobility pricing strategies—including tolling, managed lanes, congestion charges, vehicle-based fees and feebates, distance-based user charges, and parking pricing—to evaluate their potential for enhancing financial sustainability, reducing congestion, and internalizing the environmental and social costs of driving. Particular attention is given to dynamic pricing, which can flexibly manage demand for both road and parking space, and to distance-based charges that offer a more equitable and efficient alternative to fuel taxes. The analysis highlights the importance of revenue allocation to ensure that pricing strategies not only generate funds but also support equitable investments in sustainable mobility options. While some approaches are well established, others require pilot testing and policy innovation. Given its policy leadership and commitment to climate action, California is well positioned to advance and integrate these strategies, shaping a comprehensive pricing framework that strengthens the state’s fiscal resilience while promoting a cleaner, more efficient, and more equitable transportation system.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 09:11:40 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2717078</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>The curious case of road pricing reform in Norway: Welfare impacts and political economy of a stalled transition</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2706452</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Norway may become one of the first countries in the world to develop and implement a national distance-based road pricing system. This is largely motivated by the sizeable government revenue shortfall due to the world-leading phase-in of battery electric vehicles. The recent government-initiated formal Concept Study, with detailed numerical simulations, assessed alternative options including spatial and time-of-day differentiation. The final recommendation includes a distance charge for electric vehicles but without spatial or time-of-day differentiation. While welfare enhancing compared to current policies, this recommendation foregoes 7 billion NOK in net present value compared to the concept with highest net present value. In addition, the process has stalled at the political level. The authors analyze transport and welfare implications of the concepts and discuss the main challenges of the effectiveness of reform and of its actual implementation. The authors argue that at the heart of the political stalemate is the vertical tax competition between a central government losing its fuel tax revenues and the local governments that need to co-finance local transport projects via earmarked tolls. Combining two government levels with stringent tax revenue concerns with the objective of aligning the user prices with widely diverging external costs is a difficult undertaking.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 16:34:45 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2706452</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>A road pricing policy for improving equity in urban areas</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2694972</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper proposes a road-pricing policy to enhance equity, evaluating both transport and social aspects and using an optimization model to solve the problem. This policy differentiates road charges based on the origin of the trip (the residence or domicile of the vehicle owner), considering the availability of public transport services. The aim is to provide higher charges for users who have good public transport services to travel to the priced zone, while charges are reduced or eliminated for those who have no alternative but to use a car. This policy aims to improve equity, as public transport is primarily funded by the community but is not available with acceptable levels of service for all origin–destination pairs, and therefore, for all citizens who need to travel. In this paper, a road pricing optimization model is proposed based on minimizing the variance of a multimodal accessibility measure. The problem is solved with a multistart generalized gradient algorithm. The proposed methodology was applied to a small-scale test network and a full-scale network. Numerical results have shown the validity and applicability of the methodology, even for large-scale networks.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2026 15:12:29 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2694972</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Road price and capacity policies subject to a fiscal constraint in a city</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2640741</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper explores the efficient capacity of the bottleneck and road pricing in a city, subject to the fiscal constraint financing the whole urban road network including the bottleneck. To do this, considering that most cities collect their public fund from property tax, we set three regimes: Regime 1, where congestion pricing is imposed with property tax; Regime 2, where the flat per-kilometer charge is imposed with property tax; Regime 3, where floor area ratio (FAR) regulations and flat per-kilometer charge are imposed with property tax. We derive theoretical properties in each regime. First, in Regime 1, even subject to fiscal constraints, the congestion pricing formula is equal to that of Arnott et al. (1990, 1993), but the optimal capacity should be smaller than that in the presence of a lump-sum tax, reflecting the endogenous marginal cost of public funds. As a result, the congestion pricing revenue exceeds the cost of optimizing the bottleneck capacity. In addition, we show that, only in Regime 3, property tax does not generate deadweight losses owing to the imposition of FAR regulation. Finally, setting the regime of property tax only as the base, our quantitative simulations show that Regime 1 has about 90 % of the welfare increase of the first best, Regime 3 has about 50 % of the increase, and Regime 2 has about 15 % of the increase.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:15:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2640741</guid>
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      <title>Road user charge reform and the political shift in interest in Australia: Some thoughts to contemplate</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2636280</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The 2024 electric vehicle distance-based charge introduced in Victoria, Australia, to recognise that such vehicles do not pay fuel excise tax, led to a high court challenge in which it was deemed unconstitutional for a State to introduce such a charge, which is the responsibility of the Federal government (through legislation amendment). This loss of fuel excise as a tax (not a charge) on electric cars whetted the appetite of the Federal Government to place road user charging on a round table in August 2025. We now have elevated the topic right into the political sphere where any change will require such support, and it opens up an opportunity to not only consider the fuel excise issue per se but the broader agenda on road pricing reform.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2026 09:53:58 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2636280</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Assessing emergency medical services (EMS) accessibility before and after road pricing: A dynamic 2SFCA approach</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2628457</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Road pricing has been regarded as an effective tool for mitigating traffic congestion in cities. It could, however, exacerbate inequity through negative externalities. This study compares accessibility to emergency medical services (EMS) before and after the road pricing policy in Hong Kong. We develop a dynamic two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method to account for changes in speed. The spatio-temporal patterns of changes in EMS accessibility are captured. Results show that while the maximum EMS accessibility values increased after the policy, the average values decreased, particularly during the morning peak, which indicates a polarisation effect. Global Moran's I analysis informs that EMS accessibility changes are spatially clustered, and bivariate local Moran's I reveals that improvements in EMS accessibility are associated with areas with high elderly population density. Sensitivity analysis further supports our findings. Findings highlight the horizontal inequity and vertical equity in relation to the policy, bridging the gap between road pricing and public health literature. Policy implications are discussed.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2025 09:53:43 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2628457</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Ready for road pricing reform? Identifying segments of support in Australia and uncovering (Hidden) attitudes</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2597016</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Despite decades of research and broad consensus in the academic literature regarding its efficiency, road pricing reform remains a controversial topic that many policymakers are loath to debate, and the public strongly resists. Nevertheless, as traditional sources of road funding decline and the costs of maintaining road infrastructure continue to rise, some form of reform will be necessary. Using a mixed-methods approach, this paper revisits the foundations of the debate and presents an in-depth analysis of public attitudes towards the need for road funding reform, specifically examining the acceptability of a simple road user charge (cents per kilometre), independent of specific pricing levels or policy design features. We segment respondents into five distinct clusters based on their underlying support for, or resistance to, reform, and further contextualise these segments by exploring their perceptions of a road user charge. Overall, we identify that the time to discuss reform is now, as there is growing recognition that funding change will be required. We provide recommendations on how to navigate these initial discussions, particularly as our analysis reveals potentially hidden ulterior motivations that may ultimately shape how reform proposals are received and, in turn, their viability.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 24 Nov 2025 15:30:52 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2597016</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Flattening the Traffic Curve: Infrastructure-Light Solutions</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2611460</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Culver City is anticipating a surge in economic growth in upcoming years, attributed to an influx of large employers. Its challenge will be in meeting growth objectives while managing increasing traffic congestion and emissions – a tall order on any given day, but especially so in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Culver City faces additional headwinds in counteracting potentially long-term, destructive changes to travel behavior, and operating under constrained city budgets during these times of austerity. This report focuses on three promising, cost-effective, and infrastructure-light strategies local officials can consider to advance their vision of a more walkable, bikeable, sustainable, and livable Culver City with improved circulation; they are: formation of a local transportation management association, transforming parking management, and consideration of various road pricing schemes. An analysis of local employment patterns, regulations, and traffic conditions informs our context-specific recommendations for their implementation in Culver City.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2025 08:33:12 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2611460</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The dark side of Low Emission Zones: Revealing mobility-related vulnerabilities in Madrid</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2614589</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The implementation of Low Emission Zones (LEZs) has been widely promoted as a key transport policy to improve urban air quality. Beyond their environmental benefits, the extent to which LEZs may also reinforce mobility-related vulnerabilities among specific population groups remains understudied. This research examines the social vulnerability implications of LEZs by analysing the most affected socioeconomic groups in terms of access restrictions and how they respond to these restrictions. The empirical focus is based on a LEZ implemented in Madrid, Spain, in 2018. Madrid's initiative restricts vehicle access with older internal combustion engines, according to the Spanish environmental classification system for vehicles. A mobility survey with a total of 9479 responses was used. Clustering techniques and multinomial logit regression were employed to segment affected groups and identify key factors that explain them. Four affected groups were studied: early adopters, pragmatic drivers, legacy drivers, and structurally disadvantaged travellers. The findings reveal that while some groups, such as early adopters, opt for upgrading their vehicles to minimize the potential effects of LEZ' access restrictions, others face significant mobility barriers due to financial constraints (e.g., legacy drivers and structurally disadvantaged travellers). The results discuss a vision of LEZs as scalable policy solutions, highlighting the need for tailored, equity-focused strategies.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 11 Nov 2025 09:25:21 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2614589</guid>
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      <title>Tolling for Tomorrow: Road Pricing as a Climate Strategy in California</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2608479</link>
      <description><![CDATA[California has set the goal of being carbon neutral by 2045 to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. Transportation continues to be the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state and even with a shift to zero-emission vehicles, the path to climate neutrality requires a reduction in per-capita Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). To meet these goals, various road pricing strategies have been proposed and are being implemented across the state. This report aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of what road pricing can and cannot achieve, and how different projects align with the state’s goals of reducing VMT and greenhouse gas emissions. The study involved interviews with 14 officials from city, regional, and state agencies, and analyzed case studies of existing and proposed road pricing projects. Findings indicate that road pricing can effectively reduce congestion along a corridor and generate revenue. However, differences in perspectives exist between state and local agencies regarding success metrics, equity impacts, and revenue allocation. State agencies prioritize VMT and greenhouse gas reductions, while local agencies tend to focus more on operational performance and travel time reliability. Key recommendations to overcome these goal discrepancies include pricing existing lane capacity, increasing government transparency, and investing revenue in alternatives to car travel, particularly to help low-income households. Road pricing represents a promising strategy to address transportation system challenges in California, but will require more inter-agency coordination and clear policy direction from state leaders.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2025 16:47:31 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2608479</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Acceptability of a mobility pricing scheme: Reducing externalities in urban transportation</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2590224</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The growing reliance on private motorised transportation in urban areas has been associated with societal effects such as congestion, adverse effects of climate change, health effects from traffic emissions and crashes. Road pricing has long been used as a means to manage road traffic or to raise revenue for new infrastructure. Nonetheless, it is not only cars that produce external effects but also other modes. This study introduces an innovative mobility pricing scheme to encourage a shift from modes with high external costs to more sustainable alternatives by internalising transportation’s external costs. It then explores the factors explaining the public’s willingness to adjust travel behaviour in order to mitigate those externalities. For this purpose, an online survey was conducted in metropolitan Munich, Germany, gathering data (𝘕= 1013) about respondents’ reactions to the mobility pricing scheme. Using exploratory factor analysis and discrete choice modelling, the authors confirmed the prevalence of attitudes and travel behaviour over sociodemographic characteristics in explaining the acceptability of the proposed scheme. Furthermore, an elasticity analysis of explanatory variables revealed that latent attitudes may be the most important determinant of acceptability but also associated with the highest uncertainty. Although this study provides only first insights into the complex subject of mobility pricing, which intends to internalise the external costs of cars, public transport, cycling, walking and shared mobility, it could be helpful to decision-makers when refining relevant policies and opens the discussion about their applicability.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 Oct 2025 16:53:53 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2590224</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Review of Mileage-Based User Fees for Sustainable Transportation Funding: Challenges, Opportunities, and Research Gaps</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2600585</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Decarbonization trends in the transportation sector through vehicle electrification, combined with the declining efficacy of the fuel tax, have necessitated sustainable transportation Funding solutions. One such solution is the mileage-based user fee (MBUF) or the vehicle miles traveled fee, which charges drivers based on distance traveled. Over the past decade, pilot programs and research reports have evaluated MBUF’s feasibility and benefits from diverse viewpoints. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the existing literature on MBUF, focusing on modeling and methodological aspects, incorporating empirical findings from technical reports and pilot programs, and comparing MBUF with other road pricing methods, particularly administrative costs, technological requirements, and interoperability across state boundaries and fee structures. Key areas of investigation include system-level impacts (such as revenue potential and rate setting) and individual-level impacts (such as equity and privacy). Equity considerations are further analyzed; that is, social (income- and demographic-based), geographic (rural versus urban), and modal equity. The review highlights the limited research on the long-term equity impacts of MBUF and the critical need to understand behavioral impacts under the evolving policy landscape. The challenges, opportunities, and research gaps associated with MBUF are discussed, emphasizing the need for data-driven behavioral models and a systematic approach to transportation Funding.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 15:11:57 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2600585</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Using Toll Revenues for Transit: It Can and Should be Done</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2593947</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Roadway pricing is a widely used strategy to manage congestion and its associated impacts including increased travel times and pollution. While pricing or tolling approaches vary—ranging from facility-based tolling to cordon pricing, with rates that may be fixed, time-of-day-based, or dynamically adjusted—many of these approaches have consistently proven effective at reducing traffic. When implemented efficiently, tolling not only improves traffic flow but also generates revenue that exceeds the costs of operating the toll facility. This raises a critical question for policymakers and toll operators: How should these revenues be used? Public transit operations frequently emerge as a natural and beneficial investment, yet questions remain about the policy merits and legal pathways for using toll revenues in this way. In the United States, despite the presence of legal mechanisms allowing toll revenues to support transit, uncertainty and perceived regulatory barriers often deter agencies from pursuing this option. This paper addresses both the policy rationale and legal framework for using toll revenues to fund transit operations. First, the authors examine why reinvesting toll revenues into transit is an effective strategy for improving transportation system performance on a variety of metrics. Next, the authors explore the legal history of tolling in the U.S., demonstrating how federal law has evolved to enable toll revenues to fund transit operations. Finally, the authors present case studies of American agencies that have successfully implemented this approach across a range of toll facility types, highlighting key lessons and performance outcomes. With limited federal guidance on this issue, state and local agencies must be prepared to justify and defend their decisions to use toll revenues for transit. The examples presented—from the Golden Gate Bridge to Virginia’s Express Lanes—demonstrate that this practice is not only legally viable but has consistently delivered positive transportation outcomes. By providing a clear explanation of the policy rationale, legal basis, and real-world applications of toll revenue reinvestment, this paper aims to equip policymakers and practitioners with the information needed to advance these efforts with confidence.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:28:52 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2593947</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Electrical properties of conductive electric roads</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2598596</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Given the global climate crisis, the electrification of road transport has accelerated in recent decades as a strategy to mitigate global greenhouse gas emissions, with the share of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) increasing exponentially. While BEVs provide substantial environmental advantages during their operational phase compared to combustion-powered vehicles, they require an extensive charging infrastructure due to their limited range. Conductive electric roads have emerged as a promising solution, enabling BEVs to charge while in motion, thereby extending their range and reducing the required battery size when deployed on a large scale. This thesis examines the electrical properties of conductive electric roads, specifically assessing the electrical sliding contact that facilitates energy transfer between the electric road and the vehicle, as well as evaluating the system's power capabilities, losses, and efficiency in relation to varying traffic characteristics. It also addresses challenges related to conducted Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) within the system and its power grid connection, along with electrical safety concerns related to touch events involving human contact with the vehicles operating on the electric road and the electric road itself.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 10:18:49 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2598596</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>The role of status quo bias in shaping support for controversial transport policies: The counterfactual test</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2572044</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A biased preference for the status quo could explain the increased support for policies following their implementation. However, the influence of status quo bias on support for transport policies has been analysed to a limited extent only. The counterfactual test serves as a potential method to empirically explore this influence by framing policies as the existing or alternative situation. This paper employs the counterfactual test to ascertain whether individuals disproportionately favour the status quo. To this end, the authors have designed separate experiments focusing on three transport policies: road pricing, speed limits, and train ticket fare differentiation. The results indicate that status quo bias does indeed influence support for transport policies. Participants prefer each policy option when framed as the status quo. In contrast, support for the same policy option declines when presented as the alternative situation. These findings underscore the irrational tendency to adhere to the status quo, which may stem from psychological commitments or cognitive misperceptions. Therefore, politicians, policymakers, and practitioners should anticipate a bias towards the status quo when introducing controversial transport policies.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 29 Jul 2025 09:49:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2572044</guid>
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