CONGESTION PRICING

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1991

Subject Area

operations - traffic, policy - congestion, economics - pricing, economics - finance

Keywords

User charges, Traffic congestion, Pricing, Improvements, Highways, Gridlock (Traffic), Funding, Financing, Finance, Feasibility analysis, Costs, Congestion pricing, Congestion, Automatic fare collection

Abstract

The article notes that the development of congestion pricing policies during 1990s could porvide the foundation for the next generation of intelligent vehicle/highway systems. The article proposes the demonstration of congestion pricing applications in U.S. urban areas. Existing state of the art technology can be applied to optimize the existing transportation systems. Automatic fare collection systems could be used to implement a congestion pricing policy within a region. The installation, operational, and maintenance costs to implement a congestion pricing project can be offset by user fees. Also, surplus user fees can provide an important revenue source for funding capacity improvements for roadway and transit systems. Central control for such projects, and coordination of the efforts of several agencies are discussed. Parameters for the assessment of a project are listed, and the steps in conducting a feasibility study of the viability of a congestion pricing program are discussed.

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