You may have
read about congestion pricing in the newspaper or heard the phrase at a
meeting and wondered what it means. There are actually many different types
of congestion pricing. But the basic concept is to add significantly improved
transit and other travel options and then implement a fee to drivers to use an area of
the street or highway system, while driving or while parked, in order to induce
enough of them to choose other ways or times of traveling so that everyone can
access their destinations more easily.
The Chicago
region has typically sought to build our way out of traffic jams and crowded
streets. The state continues to build new roads and expand existing streets
and highways, while the region tries to compensate by adding more transit service.
It seems like we’re always behind, struggling to catch up with even more
demand for moving people further and further out in the region. There’s never
enough money to keep up with the demand, and sprawl continues apace. The explanation
for this frustrating vicious circle is explained in a paper by Robert Johnson, who
is a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy
at
the
University
of
California,
Davis:
“The most-effective policy sets combine land use
policies, such as compact growth, with strong transit provision and not
expanding highway capacity. The addition of auto pricing policies, such as
fuel taxes, work trip parking charges, or all-day tolls increases the
effectiveness of the land use and transit policies. Peak-period tolls, by
themselves, increase travel. Expanding road capacity, along with transit
capacity, but without changing market incentives to encourage more efficient
use of existing roads and parking, results in expensive transit systems with
low ridership.” – “Review of U.S. and European Regional Modeling Studies
of Policies Intended to Reduce Motorized Travel, Fuel Use, and Emissions”
Robert A. Johnston, August 2006
Prof. Johnson’s reference to
“market incentives to encourage more and efficient use of existing roads and
parking” is commonly known as congestion pricing. The concept has been around
for many years but has become especially popular as of late as major cities like
London
and
Stockholm
have implemented a form of the tool, and
New York City
and other
U.S.
cities and
regions pursue plans to implement various types of congestion pricing. If you
are new to the concept and are interested in quickly acquainting yourself with
the basics, including case studies of on-the-ground uses of the tool, click
through the suggested reading list below.
Suggested Reading
“Road
Pricing” Victoria
Transport Policy Institute
World Review of Road Pricing
Federal Highway Administration’s Urban
Partnership Agreement
program
IMPACTS conference
on
transportation
