2. Introduction
Congestion
Need for Congestion Pricing
History
Congestion Pricing
Objectives & Assumptions
Classification & Determination
Acceptability
Advantages, Disadvantages & Challenges
Case Studies
Conclusion
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3. Congestion & associated problems
Similar to toll
Means of Traffic Demand Management
Reduce use of passenger vehicles
Intended to change travel behavior to reduce
congestion
Price charged from travellers to account actual
congestion cost due to their use of network
Supply – Demand – Price relation
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4. Motionless or slow moving lines of vehicles on a
freeway or urban street
Expressed in terms flow rates, capacity, volume,
speed & delay
Occur when road capacity does not meet traffic
demand at adequate speed
Recurring & non-recurring congestion
Recurring – congestion during a predictable &
repeated time of day
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5. Escalating growth of private vehicles
Frustrating & costly delays
No user should diminish the value of other
Accidents
Air pollution – source of NO2, CO2 & PM
Noise pollution
Global warming
National energy security issues
Limitations for building new infrastructure
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6. William Vickrey proposed idea of congestion pricing
during 1950s & 1960s
Implementation was impractical
Advancement in E-toll by 1990s
Toll roads operated without tollbooth
Renewed interest in road congestion pricing
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7. 1975: First implemented in Singapore
1998: Singapore implemented Electronic Pricing
System
2003: London
2006: Stockholm
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8. Monetarize & internalize transportation &
environmental costs – delay, pollution, accidents
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Demand-based strategy designed to encourage a shift
of peak period trips to off-peak periods or routes
away from congested facilities or alternative
modes (HOVs/ Public transit), by charging a toll for
using the facility during peak demand periods
10. Toll increases with congestion levels
HOVs, Emergency vehicles, EVs are exempted or
discounted
Users giving high value to travel time (TT Savers) pay
more to use the same facility at same time
Others shift their route, mode or time
Need upper bound for pricing
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11. Options for Road Users
On Priced Highway
1. Drive free in congestion
2. Ride a bus or carpool in tolled lane without paying a toll
3. Drive alone & pay a toll
On Un-priced Highway
1. Drive in congestion
2. Ride a bus that will be also delayed by congestion
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13. Minimize total travel time
Maximize net social benefit
Maintain optimum travel speed
Improve environmental performance
Travel demand & link capacities are time dependent
Link price depend on entry time
Commuters react to prices by adjusting route choice
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14. 1. Based on type of Scheme
2. Based on degree to which toll vary
over time
3. Based on technology
4. Others
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15. Based on Type of Scheme
Price one or more lanes of a freeway – higher LOS on
tolled lanes
o HOT Lanes
Prices are set dynamically based on traffic level in priced lanes
Prices are changed to maintain an optimum traffic flow
Price entire road/ collection of roads
Price entire roadway system
Pigouvian Taxation
o Toll vary with congestion level & vehicle type
Distance-based schemes
o No. of kilometres driven
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16. Time-based pricing
o User who need to use the facility during peak congestion
period have to pay more, while the users who are willing to
use at off-peak times pay less
Facility-based schemes
o Toll is levied at single or multiple points of a facility
Zone-based schemes
o Pay fees to enter/exit/to travel within all roads in a specified
zone (CBD) without crossing boundary
Cordon-based schemes
o Area based charging scheme
o Pay toll to ‘cross’ a cordon (No charge for traveling inside)
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17. Based on Time Differentiation
Flat Pricing
o Constant over time
Scheduled/ Variable Pricing
o Vary by time of day, day of week, season etc based on
predetermined schedule
Responsive/ Dynamic Pricing
o Vary real time as a function of prevailing traffic conditions
o Aims to maintain free-flow speed
o Tolls are based on forecast congestion
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18. Others Dimensions of Differentiation
Vehicle type
No. of axles
Weight
Speed
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19. Based on Technologies
ANPR Camera
DSRC - RFID - ETC
VIN
Satellite systems & cellular networks
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22. Delhi: Marginal Congestion Cost
Speed flow equations for cars (4-lanes)
Value of travel time (Cars)
y = speed
x = PCUs
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# Source: H. M. Shivanand Swamy & Minoti Rawat, Congestion Pricing: A Case of Delhi, Urban Mobility India Conference, 2016
23. Per Capita Income Delhi 2013-14 = 118411
Per Capita Income India 2013-14 = 39904
Ratio of PCI = PCI(Delhi) / PCI(India) = 2.97
VOT for individual (Delhi 2014) = 2.97 x 88.96 = 264
Marginal Congestion Cost =
q = traffic volume in PCUs
v = speed
b = VOT
dv/dq = slope of speed-flow relation
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24. Congestion cost for car based on travel time reduction
13-26% of respondent will shift to public transport
Significant reduction in v/c ratio
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26. Pigouvian Toll
Q = flow on link (veh/hr)
C(Q) = generalized cost of a trip on the link (VOC+TT
Cost)
Total cost of Q trips per hr, TC = c(Q)Q
Marginal Social Cost of a trip, MSC = dTC/dQ
= c(Q)+c’(Q)Q
Marginal External Cost, MEC = MSC – c(Q)
Pigouvian toll = c’(Q)Q
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27. Depends on
Experience
Interest in
environmental issues
Value of time
Frequency of car use
Dislike of government
intervention
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28. Reduce congestion during peak periods
More efficient use of transportation system
Smooth traffic flows – time savings
Revenue generation
Improve travel time reliability & road safety
Encourage transit use, vehicle pooling
Reduce vehicle emission & energy consumption
New road construction & parking space savings
Indirect benefits: Improve public health, environment,
quality of life
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29. Transit improvements in affected area
Improvements for pedestrian and cyclists
Subsidizing improvements to non-priced highways
Rebating fuel taxes
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30. Change travel pattern on non-priced roads causing
congestion
Need control on HGV diversions
Damage to infrastructure & safety concerns on un-
tolled roads of lower standards
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31. Lack of necessary technology
Resistance from affected users & shop owners
Limited understanding of public about the schemes
& policies
Opposition by political parties
Uncertainty about revenue & land use change
Upfront investment in public transit to absorb
ridership & provide affordable mobility
Convenient & flexible payment systems
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32. Singapore
Scheme – ALS & ERP
Objective – To control traffic congestion in CBD during
peak hours
Result – 31-44% drop in traffic & 0.85% reduction in
CO2, travel speed increased from 11mph to 21mph
Limitations/Advantages
o Labour intensive
o Not equitable to motorists
o Rush to enter RZ just before/after restricted hours
o Charges are reduced when speed > optimal speed
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33. London
Scheme – Covers central London bounded by Inner Ring
Road
Objective – Reduce traffic & air pollution, yield
revenues, pay back initial cost
Result – Reduced cars & CO2 emission by 20%,
congestion by 30%
Limitation/Advantages
o All vehicles pay same charge
o ANPR system was a failure & 40% do not pay
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35. Stockholm, Sweden
Objective – Reduce congestion, increase accessibility &
improve environment
Result :–
o Reduced avg. journey time & queuing times dropped by 30%
in rush hours
o 6% changed their mode & no. of cars in park & ride facilities
grew by 23%
Limitation/Advantages
o Two routes were left free of charge – only connection to city
centre - travel time & vehicle increased
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36. SR-91, California, USA
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Priced Free
Speed
(mph)
0
400
800
1,200
1,600
Priced Free
Vehicles
per lane
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
High
income
Low
income
Percent
approval
(I-15)
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37. Hong Kong
Pilot implementation
VPS
Cordon-based charging scheme
Unsuccessful – lack of public & local govt. support
Advantages
o Reduced traffic emissions & noise in charging zone
o Deteriorated bypasses & surrounding areas of charging zone
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38. Congestion is a persistent & growing problem in
metropolitan cities worldwide
Innovative solution to maintain traffic flow & reduce
emissions
Increased mobility & public transit
Reduced travel time
Public health benefits – walking, cycling, clean
environment, less accidents
Important for highly congested metropolitan cities
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Notes de l'éditeur
Traffic congestion is common in large cities and on major highways & it impose significant burden in lost time, uncertainty & aggravation (make worse) for passenger & freight transportation
UK estimated that the cost of congestion forms 1.5% of GDP. In US in 2007, congestion caused 4.2 billion hours of travel delay & 2.8 billion gallons of extra fuel consumption
Need to determine the prices that should be charged to travelers in order to account for the actual congestion costs induced by their use of the network.
Intent to change travel behavior – shift some drivers to less congested periods/ nodes/ routes/ shared-vehicles
Supply – Demand – Price:- Supply (Road infrastructure) is fixed, but demand varies. To align supply & demand, price has to be adjusted – If demand exceeds supply, price increases & some prefer not to use it.
Force people to pay for the negative externalities they create making users more aware of their impact on environment
Congestion occurs when the road capacity does not meet traffic demand at an adequate speed
Non-recurring – random or unpredictable – temporarily increase demand or reduce capacity (accidents, disabled vehicles, road construction, weather)
No user should diminish the value of other:- When there is no charge for entry, motorists do not consider that they are imposing a cost on others; resulting market failure is known as congestion. Under high volume condition, one additional vehicle entering road may cause traffic to further slow down creating congestion & delay for others. Unless all roads are priced, motorists will have opportunities to shift travel to other parts of the system to avoid the charges. These motorists will incur cost of using a less appealing route or mode. Motorists who previously used the alternative route may experience –ve effect of higher traffic volume & more congestion. Revenue obtained from pricing can be used to enhance capacity of non-priced roads so as to reduce congestion on these roads.
Optimum flow on highway occurs when vehicle flow at 45mph
Pollution – Delhi – odd even policy – need for cleaner air – sustainable idea like congestion pricing
Air pollution: In US, congestion cost was estimated at $87billion in 2007 with about 28million tons of CO2 emitted per year due to fuel wasted from inefficient vehicle operation due to congestion
Efforts to reduce congestion through road building fail to keep pace with transportation demand & are likely to generate additional vehicle traffic, which worsen air quality and create further demand for road building
Fuel wastage
Time-based pricing is done similar to that of airline tickets
To avoid the term “toll”, experts use “Pricing”, eventhough the concept is same
Cost include – Toll collection infrastructure, staffing & enforcement, Inconvenience to motorists, Financial costs to consumers for paying the toll based on their VOT
Congestion tolls can be implemented at scales ranging from individual lanes on single links to national road networks. Tolls can be differentiated by time of day, road type, vehicle characteristics and can be set in real time according to current traffic conditions.
Those who choose an alternate route/ mode/ cancel their trip, are not traveling when, where or how they want
If upper bound for the congestion price is not set, then imposing higher toll to reduce flow on a particular link, will force most of the users to shift to alternate route making that link congested and this link will not be used for serving its ultimate purpose. (people will not use this facility & it remain unused as desired)
Toll increases with congestion levels: since cost suffered by users is increasing with quantity of vehicles
Flow chart showing how congestion pricing affects various transportation & human factors
* optimum travel speed – 45mph – when demand exceeds a certain point, speed drops & results in stop & go condition. Pricing can manage demand to maintain optimum speed of travel
Implemented by highway agencies or local authorities or state or federal govts. (US)
Implemented by highway agencies or local authorities or state or federal govts. (US)
* Congestion level Traffic volume – tolls rise & fall depending on traffic levels
In cordon based schemes, vehicle need to pay a toll to cross a cordon in inbound/ outbound/ both directions
In Zonal schemes, vehicle intended to enter/exit or travel within the specified zone need to pay the toll. Where as in cordon only the vehicle entering/exiting (Crossing) the cordon required to pay
Variable pricing (able to cop up with demand) & area based schemes (less chance of traffic diversion) is preferred
Flat tolls may be considered for maximizing revenue, whereas variable/responsive tolls are preferable to control congestion
Flat tolls: used when technology is poor to change tolls wrt time, traffic etc
ANPR – use digital camera & optical character recognition software to read license plates
DSRC – RFID (To access the distance travelled by a vehicle, it has to be detected at a sequence of locations)
Uses ETC (Electronic-Toll Collection) technology – RFID on vehicles
Satellite systems & cellular networks – require in-vehicle systems only, no road side infrastructure – Disadvantage: Signal loss in tunnels & signal interception by high rise buildings & overpasses
* It is difficult & complex to include all key determinants (vehicle, time, traffic level, emission, speed, accidents, weight, axles etc). Hence only significant factors are considered & others are ignored based on the traffic & other characteristics of the location of application
PCUs will decrease significantly
Experience: People having more experience with congestion charging have higher acceptance
Interest on environmental issues: People who concern about environmental problems will favour congestion charging
Value of time: People with higher perceived value of time have higher acceptance
Frequency of car use: More the travellers use their car, lower will be the acceptance
Dislike of government intervention: People who thinks that government intervention is less and apt, less possiblity for public opposition
Congestion reduces to 13 – 30%
Accidents will be more on congested road
Efficient use of transportation system – personal, public & goods transportation
Improve TT reliability – important for goods delivery, business persons etc.
Reduced emission & energy consumption less HCs, CO2, CO, NO2 etc
Indirect benefits: Improve air quality & decrease GHG emissions (15-20%). Increase livability
Reduction in fine particulate matter
Improve public health – increased walking & cycling
Public confidence that revenues will be used for transportation improvement is an important element of any congestion charging strategy
* Change travel pattern on non-priced roads causing congestion, if the traffic is more than its capacity
Lack of necessary technology:- recent advances in electronic toll collection prompted greater interest in congestion pricing.
Difficult to secure public acceptance – shop owners may oppose as business may decrease due to less traffic. Difficult to take into account lower income & higher income group in determining an effective price
Utilizing the revenue for affected community may help to reduce the protest
Political opposition: government may reject the implementation of ERP due to the perception that public interest on govt will decline
Upfront investments in public transit may be necessary to absorb increased ridership and to provide affordable mobility for low‐income populations
Convenient & flexible payment systems: smart/debit card systems for commuters to use in public transits
Land use change:- Unclear – increase decentralization
First city to implement cordon-based congestion pricing in 1975. Electronic Pricing System implemented in 1998, now charges for different roads at different times automatically as vehicle passes under gantries
24,700 cars reduced & 22% rise in speed during peaks
ALS – Area Licensing Scheme, ERP – Electronic Road Pricing
Paper system of daily licenses for vehicles entering CBD during peak periods
Focus on restraining traffic – increased vehicle & parking, enhance PT – Even after 10yrs (1975-’88) traffic levels remained 31% below original levels even as the employment in the city had increased by a third & vehicle ownership by 77%. Bus ridership increased by 20% due to congestion charging, transit improvements & related policies.
Smart card is inserted in an in-vehicle units & these units communicate with overhead gantries at pricing locations. Appropriate charge will be debited from smart card. If vehicle does not have a valid smart card (balance), enforcement cameras will take photograph of the vehicle to assess a fine. Congestion price + fine can be paid online (for failure to carry sufficient balance)
Motor vehicles & heavy vehicles were also added to the system
Traffic levels are reviewed every 3 months to determine appropriate toll levels.
Toll rate is less on Saturdays
70 charging points to ensure that traffic moves at uncongested speed 85% of time
Operating cost is <10% of revenue collected & capital expense 40% of initial annual revenue
No charge on some Saturdays to demonstrate people that the system is not primarily for revenue generation
US$ 3
Tolls are varied every half an hour
In 2003
From 7:00 to 18:00 – Mon to Fri except holidays
Overhead cameras to recognize license plates
Payment – online, mobile, stations etc
5 – 8 British Pounds
Increased bus ridership (faster & more reliable) by 6% & cycling by 12% during charging hours & 66% increase in cycling within charging zone
Since pvt vehicle had dropped, some lanes are dedicated for public transit
Control of NO2 & PM was important in London, (transportation is the largest source)
EVs are exempted from charge to promote environment friendly vehicles
Revenue generated was used for funding buses, cycling & pedestrian facilities (enhance accessibility & shift to alternative travel options)
Discounts provided for residents of charging zone
Two-thirds of people approved congestion pricing
Net annual benefit of $183 million & benefit-cost ratio of 2.27
In 2006 – trial – during trial, volumes reduced by 20% & speed increased by 20%, transit ridership increased by 6-9%. When trial ended, traffic rebounded to earlier level.
Cordon based scheme – cordon surrounds the city center & has 18 control points
Toll is paid for each inbound passage upto a daily maximum of $8.5
In effect from 6.30 to 18.30.
No charge on weekends, holidays or day before holidays
Toll is $1.4, $2.1 or $2.8 depending on time of day
Shorter travel time, increased road safety, public health & environmental benefits
Operating costs = 25% of annual revenue
Upfront investment was made in buses, trains & park-ride lots so that more buses, trains are allotted during peak hours etc
CO2 emission decreased by 15% + reduction in NO2 & PM
Norway : Generate 5 times the revenue required to maintain toll system
SR – State Route
1st – Throughput on priced & un-priced roads
2nd – Speed on priced & un-priced roads
3rd – Public acceptability
Toll payers save 20-30minutes
Variable toll pricing
VPS (Vehicle Positioning System):- GPS-Satellite communicate with In-Vehicle Units & determine location of the vehicle – no roadside equipment was required. Supplementary benefits such as navigation, ITS applications etc
Emergency vehicle are exempted
Other failures: Cordon tolling schemes in New York ( proposal was stopped by state legislature), Edinburgh & Manchester – rejected by public referenda – submitted an online petition (1.8million signs) against pricing
As passenger vehicles & usages grows in developing countries such as India, congestion charging will be an innovative solution to maintain traffic flow
Essential for highly congested metropolitan cities, where there is no space for further expansion of road infrastructure to keep up with increased demand of vehicles