Title: Examining the Linkages Between Electronic Roadway Tolling Technologies and Road Pricing Policy Objectives
Author(s): Hiroyuki Iseki, Brian D. Taylor, and Alexander Demisch
Published: 2009 by 2010 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C. Paper #10-4033
Online Access: http://pubsindex.trb.org/view.aspx?id=911384
Abstract: The surge of road pricing projects in the U.S. and around the globe over the past 15 years has been enabled by a variety of new communication and transportation technologies. While all of these technologies increase the efficiency of roadway tolling vis-a-vis manual collection, there is currently no "best" configuration. Rather, optimal configurations depend on the objectives of the tolling effort, such as facility type, geographic scope, desire to price externalities, integration with other operations, and so on. While such policy objectives for road pricing have been examined extensively, little has been written on the explicit links between tolling technology configurations and policy objectives. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by examining eight road pricing programs. For each program the authors evaluate the conduct of the three technical tasks via the nine technology sets in light of the six principal policy objectives of road pricing. The authors find that two policy factors most often determine the type of roadway tolling technologies adopted: (1) the geographical scale of the road network tolled, and (2) the complexity of calculating the fee to be charged. The combination of these two factors can vary greatly, from flat fare tolling on individual facilities, to nationwide road networks priced with dynamic tolls that vary by vehicle class, time of day, and congestion level. The authors conclude that the challenge to the expanded implementation of road pricing is less about either pricing technologies or the objectives of pricing, but the politically and economically effective linking of the two.
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Author(s): Hiroyuki Iseki, Brian D. Taylor, and Alexander Demisch
Published: 2009 by 2010 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C. Paper #10-4033
Online Access: http://pubsindex.trb.org/view.aspx?id=911384
Abstract: The surge of road pricing projects in the U.S. and around the globe over the past 15 years has been enabled by a variety of new communication and transportation technologies. While all of these technologies increase the efficiency of roadway tolling vis-a-vis manual collection, there is currently no "best" configuration. Rather, optimal configurations depend on the objectives of the tolling effort, such as facility type, geographic scope, desire to price externalities, integration with other operations, and so on. While such policy objectives for road pricing have been examined extensively, little has been written on the explicit links between tolling technology configurations and policy objectives. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by examining eight road pricing programs. For each program the authors evaluate the conduct of the three technical tasks via the nine technology sets in light of the six principal policy objectives of road pricing. The authors find that two policy factors most often determine the type of roadway tolling technologies adopted: (1) the geographical scale of the road network tolled, and (2) the complexity of calculating the fee to be charged. The combination of these two factors can vary greatly, from flat fare tolling on individual facilities, to nationwide road networks priced with dynamic tolls that vary by vehicle class, time of day, and congestion level. The authors conclude that the challenge to the expanded implementation of road pricing is less about either pricing technologies or the objectives of pricing, but the politically and economically effective linking of the two.
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