An application of road pricing schemes to urban expressways in Seoul

Abstract

This paper reviews the impact of road pricing schemes on urban expressways located in the metropolitan area, and examines efficiency and equity issues associated with various road pricing strategies. Focusing on an expressway section located in the southern part of Seoul, four alternative pricing schemes are investigated: a fast and intertwined regular (FAIR) lane system; a high occupancy toll (HOT) lane system; a congestion pricing (CP) system; and a toll collection system to raise revenue for road maintenance (Toll Road). A multi-class assignment technique embedded in EMME/2 was applied to each of the alternatives in order to estimate their impacts. On efficiency and equity grounds, we conclude that the CP option is the most beneficial alternative for the expressway. This strategy is the most favorable in terms of efficiency (speed gains and trip reductions) and horizontal equity considerations. Although it is inferior to the FAIR lane and HOT options in terms of vertical equity, its lower average bus speeds do not appear to represent a serious disadvantage. The second highest amount of revenue is collected from the toll option, and if that revenue is reinvested in an appropriate way, it may be closer to an envy-free condition attained by the FAIR lane option. The study suggests that electronic toll collection (ETC) systems should be adopted for toll collection because they offer the most value in relation to implementation costs (assuming revenues are spent to improve public transportation and road management). Alternatively, a mechanism can be adopted whereby road users participate in the allocation of toll revenues.