Toll Charges Research Articles

Risk Analysis of Traffic and Revenue Forecasts for Road Investment Projects

In this paper, a simulation model for risk analysis making use of the Monte Carlo technique is devised to incorporate the uncertainty in traffic and revenue forecasts for road investment projects. The risk analysis would give the traffic and revenue forecasts in specified years with a particular probability, or vice versa. These traffic and revenue forecasts and their probability levels will help the authorities or the private sector evaluate road investment projects scientifically and systematically. A case study of the proposed Zhuhai Neilingding Crossing is used to illustrate the application of the risk analysis model. Demand elasticity is also introduced to investigate the effects of different toll charges on traffic demand, together with sensitivity analysis on some of the key variables behind the traffic and revenue forecasts.

Road pricing - Analysis and policies (A historical perspective)

SummaryThis paper explains how road pricing and toll charge theory appeared and evolved on the basis of contributions from the French engineer-economist school, from Dupuit to Allais, and of Anglo-Saxon theories inspired by Pigou and Vickrey on decongestion tolls and network tools.

Traffic restraint, road pricing and network equilibrium

Road pricing is now being advocated as an efficient means of managing traffic demand and of meeting other objectives, such as reducing the environmental impact of road traffic and improving public transport. This paper shows how a network toll pattern could be determined so as to reduce network travel demand to a desirable level. The demand between each origin-destination pair is described as a function of the generalized travel cost. When there is no toll charge, higher values of potential demand might cause congestion and queuing at bottleneck links of the road network. Queuing delay at saturated links may grow to choke off enough potential demand to reduce realized demand to the capacity of the network, thus leading to a queuing equilibrium where travel demand and travel cost match each other. In this paper, we first show how an elastic-demand network equilibrium model with queue could be used to determine this demand-supply equilibrium. We then seek a link toll pattern to remove the wasteful queuing delay, and/or restrain the realized demand to a desirable level to satisfy environment capacity constraints. We also show that the link toll pattern that could hold the traffic demand to a desirable level is not unique, a bi-level programming method is developed to select the best toll pattern among the feasible solutions based on pre-specified criteria.

Privately funded infrastructure in the UK: Participants' risk in the Skye Bridge project

This paper examines the risk implications of the use of private funding for the Skye Bridge concessionary infrastructure project. The privatisation of infrastructure procurement in the UK arises as a result of the Government's consultation paper ‘New roads by new means — bringing in private finance’ (Department of Transport (DoT), 1989) together with relaxation of the use of private finance, the so-called Ryrie rules. The analysis of the Skye Bridge project looks at the financing arrangements and the resultant risk and reward for the participants to the concession. The general conclusions are: 1. 1 private sector finance could be hard to mobilise to due to the perceived levels of risk and uncertainty; 2. 2 in the case of the Skye Bridge, allowing full inflation adjustment of the toll charge may provide considerable potential windfall gains to the concessionaire; 3. 3 only projects offering the highest return are likely to attract potential interest.

The demand curve under road pricing and the problem of political feasibility

Road pricing is widely advocated as a solution to congestion problems. The underlying theory is well developed, and we even have the technology to implement it without toll booths. Only political barriers remain: Decision makers are reluctant to retrofit tolls on existing highways because they do not know what circumstances might make such an action acceptable to the public. This paper develops a graphical model that displays the interaction between road capacity, user demand, travel speed and toll charges. The model is then used to analyze the sources of public resistance to road pricing. Might the potential response to road pricing be predicted using data from the new toll roads now being built around the United States? Our model shows it cannot: Political success depends on the demand characteristics at the right-hand side of the demand curve, while toll road data only trace out the left-hand side of the curve. Our model also shows situations where the new toll roads are likely to generate public anger. The Appendix discusses an experimental design that uses unobtrusive measures to assess the effect of a transportation project.

Electronic toll collection

Electronic toll collection (ETC) offers the opportunity for toll facility operators to supply a substantially greater amount of traffic capacity than any other currently available form of toll collection. The current interest in ETC derives from the proposals in a number of countries to introduce urban tollways, using the net toll receipts to recover the cost of the capital investment plus an acceptable profit margin for those taking the financial risk. This paper outlines the main economic, technical, and administrative features of ETC in the context of toll charges that are determined by the rules of capital cost recovery. Electronic road pricing (ERP) as a mechanism for implementing full road user charging (in line with economic principles of efficient use of road space) is not the topic of this paper, given the predominantly financial basis of setting tolls for private roads. The underlying rationale for toolroads in the political climate of most nations is not suggestive of any plan to revise the pricing regime in line with ERP upon reversion of the infrastructure to the public sector when the capital costs are repaid. It is assumed that the tollroads will revert to free roads in line with the existing road system, and that road users will continue to contribute towards the costs of maintaining the road system by the traditional pricing mechanisms (i.e. fuel taxes, vehicle registration, fees, etc.).

The great blue box phone frauds

The use of an electronic device called the blue box to exploit a loophole in the nation's long-distance telephone network is recounted. To avoid long-distance charges, blue box users first dialed long-distance directory assistance, 800 numbers, or numbers that carried only a small toll charge. After the user dialed his number and was connected to a long-distance trunk, the blue box emitted a 2600 Hz tone, clearing the equipment at the tandem trunk's receiving end and signaling the switching equipment that the call had been completed and the trunk was waiting for a new call. The local central office, however, had not received its call termination signal, so the local central office did not disconnect the caller from the long-distance network. The permanent solution to the blue box problem proved to be common channel interoffice signaling (CCIS), a method rejected in the 1950s as too costly and difficult to implement.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The complementary roles of regulatory and fiscal methods of traffic restraint

Traffic management on a large scale has become a crucial tool of planners since the era of large scale facilities construction began to fade away. Two basically different types of traffic management policies have become increasingly relevant: regulatory controls, including mandatory access and routing restrictions; and toll charges of various types, ranging from electronic road pricing to parking charges. This paper explores the relationship between regulatory and fiscal policies for control by applying transportation planning methods of appraisal. The two policies of route restriction on trucks in urban areas, and charges for entry to a given area have been used in illustrative analysis of the environmental and cost balance between the two types of policy.

Puente sobre el Río Ebro - Castejón (España)

This bridge over the Ebro, at Castejon, will provide an important north-south link between Pamplona and central Spain, with a possible connection towards France. It is designed to carry two traffic lanes only, with a total width of 10.50 ms. But it is planned to double it later, so that its width will be 20.50 and double panes of traffic in each direction will be provided. Currently, anticipating future needs, the township of Castejon has constructed this bridge through its own financial provisions, and will collect a toll charge to recuperate its outlay.

Paso bajo el río Támesis, en Dartford, Inglaterra

This very large diameter tunnel, of circular cross section, and a total length of 1,430 m, serves to facilitate the intense traffic in the neighborhood of London. Because of the special soil conditions in this zone, and the nearness of the river bottom, excavation was done with the aid of two shields, which started from the two opposite river sides, and advanced towards the middle of the river. The approaches are very long, and were designed anticipating the possibility that a double tunnel may be built in the near future. Lighting, parking, ventilation, crossings and other services have been very carefully studied, and this culminated in a project whose results have satisfied all the initial expectations. The traffic regulation, signals, fire alarms, and the whole system of control is undertaken from a central station. As additional services there is an automatic control of the toll charge cabins, the mobile cranes and the maintenance services.

The XY toll ticketing system

IN RECENT years independent telephone companies have become acutely aware of steadily decreasing net profits on short-distance toll-call operation. The recording, for billing purposes, of certain information concerning the toll call has required the assistance of an operator. For this reason, manual toll switching has been retained in spite of the fact that mechanical systems for performing the actual switching functions have been available for many years. Fixed toll charges and rising labor costs have combined to make it extremely difficult for the operating companies to realize a profit on this phase of their business.

British Food Journal Volume 53 Issue 7 1951

British Food Journal Volume 53 Issue 7 1951