SOCIAL COST COMPONENT OF AN EFFICIENT TOLL

Efficient tolls are tolls that ensure that the price paid by the roadway user is equal to the increment of social and private costs resulting from the highway use. Setting these tolls accomplishes an important objective: to correct the current practice that allows driving to be subsidized by government and nonusers. Without restrictions on vehicle ownership and unlimited access to the nation's cost-free roadways, drivers do not pay for the social costs they generate. If motorists were required to pay their fair share of these social costs, travel decisions would probably be altered. Unwarranted trips, especially during peak hours, would be reduced because roadway space would be priced to accurately reflect the actual cost of driving. Beyond private costs, society is burdened with paying for infrastructure construction and maintenance, highway services, wasted fuel, pollution, accidents, and congestion costs from travel delays. The cost to society of automobile travel is assessed so that a charge can be made for the social costs component in computing what an efficient toll should be. It is found that the social cost fee during nonpeak travel comes to 0.67 cent/vehicle-km (1.08 cents/vehicle-mi). Travel during peak periods is far more expensive with the addition of congestion costs. The value of time drives up these costs, and the charges amount to 5.68 cents/vehicle-km (9.14 cents/vehicle-mi) for peak-period travel.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.3141/1576-18
• Summary URL:
  • http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=SOCIAL+COST+COMPONENT+OF+AN+EFFICIENT+TOLL&author=R.+Tellis&author=C.+Khisty&publication_year=1997
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309062055
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1576, Financial, Economic, and Social Topics in Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Tellis, R
  • Khisty, C J
• Publication Date: 1997

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 140-146
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1576
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile travel; Externalities; Hours; Off peak periods; Peak periods; Tolls; Travelers
• Subject Areas: Economics; Finance; Highways; Society; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00743131
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309062055
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Nov 17 1997 12:00AM