Regional Road Pricing Comparisons

Abstract

In this study, we compared various examples of road pricing projects around the world. In particular, we made a case study of road pricing projects in the cities of United Kingdom, Norway and Singapore. We then imposed a hypothetical road pricing system in Sapporo on the basis of revenue to help cover the city's spiralling winter road maintenance costs. To this end, we designed two different winter-time road pricing systems; a bounded cordon toll and a mileage charge. The bounded cordon toll consisted of an area based road pricing system similar to London's Congestion Charging System (CCS). The mileage system on the other hand charged a set amount for the mileage travelled during the winter season. In order to determine the acceptability and the willingness of residents to pay for the schemes, a survey was conducted with random samples taken from the centre and outer suburbs. Findings suggest that an area based cordon toll is the more acceptable of the two. Inner city residents were more sensitive to road pricing changes, but other factors such as car ownership and accessibility to alternative forms of transportation also play a role.