ROAD PRICING - AN OUTSIDER'S VIEW OF AMERICAN EXPERIENCES

Substantial changes in urban transport policy have taken place over the past decade. The concern with expanding infrastructure and the preoccupation with providing sufficient road capacity to meet the increasing demand of unrestricted car use, which characterized transport policy in the 1950's and 1960's, has gradually given way to the idea that there is a need to restrain motor traffic if urban society is to function efficiently. A variety of restrictive physical traffic management, land use planning and economic policies have, in consequence, been pursued. One option which has attracted considerable attention in the academic literature, but which has been received more cooly by policy-makers, is the possibility of optimizing urban traffic congestion through the imposition of road pricing. The introduction and relative success of the area licensing scheme in Singapore has added fuel to the arguments of the advocates of such a policy. This review is not directly concerned with either the experiment with road pricing in Singapore nor the theoretical debates which have taken place concerning the potential merits and defects of such policies but rather looks at the applied work in the United States which has looked into the practical implications of road pricing for its cities. Further, it seeks to explore, again drawing on American experiences, just why there has been so much opposition to the employment of economic pricing principles in the urban road transport market. The author presents the results of an SSRC sponsored study into the practical problems of introducing road pricing to cities in the United States. (TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/7802200
• Corporate Authors:

  Taylor & Francis

  4 Park Square, Milton Park
  Abingdon,   United Kingdom  OX14 4RN
• Authors:
  • BUTTON, K J
• Publication Date: 1984-1

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 73-98
• Serial:
  • Transport Reviews
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISSN: 0144-1647
  • EISSN: 1464-5327
  • Serial URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ttrv20

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Demand; Evaluation and assessment; Land use; Policy; Private transportation; Road pricing; Toll roads; Traffic congestion; Traffic restraint; Transportation; Transportation planning; Transportation policy; Urban areas; Urban transportation
• ITRD Terms: 285: Demand (econ); 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 356: Land use; 173: Policy; 746: Private transport; 240: Road pricing; 2702: Toll road; 1155: Transport; 313: Urban area
• Subject Areas: Economics; Policy; Society; Transportation (General); I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00386067
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 30 1984 12:00AM