Road Pricing Acceptance: Analysis of Survey Results for Kyoto and Taichung

Abstract

ABSTRACT Road pricing is being introduced in a number of countries to mitigate traffic congestion. It is suggested in the literature that a contributing influence to the success of road pricing is the attitudes of road users to that strategy before it is implemented. Given a general absence of evidence in an Asian setting, we undertake attitudinal surveys in Taichung (Taiwan) and Kyoto (Japan), and estimate a Bivariate ordered probit model to explore the influences on respondents' attitude towards road pricing (Attitude) and their willingness to vote for road pricing in a fictitious election (Vote). The results confirm that there is a complementary relationship between road pricing acceptance attitudes and voting attitudes before implementation. A seemingly uncorrelated regression model is also developed for the respondents' intentions to reduce car use (Self) and expectations of others' car use reduction (Others) in response to the introduction of road user pricing. The evidence suggests that there is a complementary relationship between one's own usage expectations and that of others after implementation.