Rapport

Technology for pricing policy – experiences with current schemes

This paper examines practical experiences with transport pricing schemes. It describes the common technologies used for road pricing schemes, particularly: Automatic Number Plate Recognition, Dedicated Short Range Communication, and Vehicle Positioning Systems. For each technology, advantages, disadvantages, possibilities for price differentiation, and cost issues are discussed. Major European transport pricing schemes are examined in detail, including the London congestion charge, and the lorry kilometre charging schemes in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. These are compared on aspects of technology type, transport volume, differentiation, charge level, operating costs and revenues, enforcement, and payment methods. It is concluded that based on current experiences, road pricing is practicable in many situations. It is also observed that a full national road pricing system for cars and lorries would be on a scale significantly greater than anything seen so far.

Meer over