Memorandum by the Institution of Civil
Engineers (RP 44)
ROAD PRICING
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is
a UK-based international organisation with over 75,000 members
ranging from professional civil engineers to students.
ICE has long advocated road pricing as a means
of reducing congestion through the management of demand for road
space. A list of publications is attached.
Road pricing is already being applied to influence
demand. The most obvious examples include central area parking
charge premiums, park and ride regimes, congestion charging, tolled
crossings and the M6 Toll. Any new road pricing initiative in
the short term should seek to avoid the risk of discouraging or
delaying new applications of these tried and tested examples.
The two principal potential applications for
pricing in the shorter term are:
— area-wide applications based on the
principles of the central London congestion charging scheme; and
— congested inter-urban strategic roads.
In the longer term, to avoid diversion problems
for urban applications, all roads in the local network would need
to be priced in the same way. Consequently the chosen technical
system must be flexible as well as being interoperable within
the EU to satisfy the relevant Directive (2004/52/EU). Adoption
of a staged approach towards the "ideal" will allow
the system to build on proven technologies. A partnership between
central and local government would facilitate the development
of a pricing regime that meets both national and local objectives.
Lorry Road User Charging offers a valuable pathfinder experience
and will usefully inform and guide the evolving structure of a
national scheme for all vehicles.
2014 is a realistic target for the introduction
of a comprehensive distance-based pricing system. This timescale,
although long, should be seen in the context of the extended programmes
for introducing new or improved transport infrastructure (both
road and rail-based). It is vital that the planning and provision
of these latter programmes is maintained rather than be held back
or otherwise compromised by any pre-judgement about the introduction
of a national pricing regime.
Multiple local applications tailored to local
conditions could reduce congestion even more effectively. Examples
include:
— New multi-modal capacity for the
strategic inter-urban/city/region corridors which would employ
tolls and fares to influence modal choice, to lock in the benefits
and raise revenues.
— Extra capacity such as limited access
flyovers and underpasses for cars or buses at congestion hot spots
within congested urban areas combined with pricing measures such
as congestion charging and overall parking levies.
Public acceptance of road pricing will be vital
to the effectiveness of the measure. ICE is actively working to
improve the understanding of the public in this matter.
INSTITUTION OF
CIVIL ENGINEERS
1. The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)
is a UK-based international organisation with over 75,000 members
ranging from professional civil engineers to students. It is an
educational and qualifying body and has charitable status under
UK law. Founded in 1818, ICE has become recognised worldwide for
its excellence as a centre of learning, as a qualifying body and
as a public voice for the profession. Members of the Transport
Board of the Institution of Civil Engineers and of the Transport
Planning Society (an ICE Associated Society) have prepared this
submission, following an earlier submission made to the Department
for Transport on the proposal to extend the M6 Toll Road to Manchester.
INTRODUCTION
2. The submission seeks to answer the specific
questions raised in the Transport Committee's call for evidence.
It is largely based on our interpretation of the Department for
Transport's report entitled "Feasibility Study of Road Pricing
in the UK".
Should road pricing be introduced for certain
sections of the road network in the short term?
3. Yes. The Nation's road network is made
up of a complex hierarchy of roads with each level in this hierarchy
exhibiting widely differing characteristics and serving different
functions. In addition, the congestion patterns, the socio-economic
characteristics and needs of different areas, the availability
and costs of alternative travel modes and the likely impacts of
road pricing would make it necessary to apply pricing in different
ways. In the short term it would be extremely difficult to introduce
pricing in other than its simplest forms and outside areas or
networks where congestion is demonstrably critical and where alternative
routes or transport modes exist. For the shorter term we assume
that the pricing would be "revenue raising" rather than
"revenue neutral".
4. Pricing is already being applied to influence
demand (and to generate funds) with the most obvious examples
including central area parking charge premiums, park and ride
regimes, congestion charging, tolled crossings and the M6 Toll.
More applications like these should be encouraged because they
can be seen to be succeeding in their aims. Any new road pricing
initiative in the short term should seek to avoid the risk of
discouraging or delaying new applications of these tried and tested
examples.
5. From the pricing application perspective,
the road hierarchy can be considered in the following order:
(a) congested urban networks—all road
types;
(b) congested inter-urban strategic (motorway
and trunk road) links;
(c) congested, environmentally sensitive
tourist attraction areas—local roads;
(d) busy inter-urban strategic and other
major routes-motorways, trunk roads and all purpose roads; and
6. This leads to the conclusion that there
are two principal potential applications for pricing in the shorter
term, namely the area- wide applications based on the principles
of the central London congestion charging scheme but with greater
sophistication to ensure improved equity and durability and applications
on congested inter-urban strategic roads. With regard to equity
and durability in urban areas, it may be necessary to introduce
a combination of pricing measures for example both congestion
charging and work place parking levies.
7. For the first category, which includes
both the congested urban areas and tourist areas, it would be
necessary for Government to work in active partnership with those
local authorities that preside over strong local economies that
are being negatively affected by congestion and environmental
degradation. Each application would need to be "tailor-made"
for the local circumstances prevailing.
8. For the second category, the favoured
application would be on a busy inter-city motorway, which is the
subject of a widening improvement or has an improving rail service
within a shared corridor or at least a second high capacity route
available. The importance of the availability of a second route
would be to accept an amount of traffic diversion without serious
environmental impact and possibly to test the impacts of differing
price levels being applied to each route. A widening improvement
might be considered a "new" element or facility that
is entitled to be priced at a premium. There would be scope to
"lock in" the benefits of the improvement through the
pricing mechanism and possibly to encourage or introduce a new
public transport service on the route length to be charged.
If road pricing is introduced, what factors should
determine which roads are priced and what technology should be
used?
9. The first part of this question has been
largely addressed above at least for the short term. For the longer
term and for urban applications it would be necessary for all
roads in the local network to be priced in the same way to avoid
diversion problems although strategic, through routes might be
priced at a different level to ensure they function as intended.
Ideally, the overall or "aggregate" level of charge
for an urban area would need to reflect both a national "base"
level and a local adjustment to take into account the special
circumstances arising including any complementary measures and
charges. This points to the need for a flexible technical system,
which would also need to be interoperable within the EU to satisfy
the relevant Directive (2004/52/EU). This presents a considerable
technical challenge to systems designers and it also presents
problems of communicating charges to non-regular users.
10. The requirement for interoperability
leads us to conclude that a pricing and technology system needs
to be suited to the conditions maintaining in at least the larger
member states of the EU where there are already extensive networks
of strategic highways. The system technology must therefore be
suited for application to the currently "free" autobahns
in Germany and the mix of free and tolled strategic routes (often
in the same corridors) in France, Italy and Spain. As the feasibility
study shows, extensive development is underway—particularly
in Germany—on hybrid systems that combine satellite positioning
(GPS) and microwave technologies. These require both in vehicle
and roadside infrastructure. Such systems aim at achieving a comprehensive
distance-based pricing regime with the ability to set variable
charge levels according to location and time of day. Although
full interoperability is the desired goal, realistically, such
systems would have to be highly flexible to permit individual
member states and locally authorised operators the freedom to
determine the charging regimes and means of payment.
11. The feasibility study recognises that
substantial development work and international collaboration is
needed before any preferred systems "architecture" can
be identified. We would agree with the conclusions reached in
the report that 2014 is a realistic target for the introduction
of a comprehensive distance-based pricing system. This timescale,
although long, should be seen in the context of the extended programmes
for introducing new or improved transport infrastructure (both
road and rail-based).
12. It is vital that the planning and provision
of these latter programmes is maintained rather than be held back
or otherwise compromised by any pre-judgement about the introduction
of a national pricing regime. A presumption of policy in favour
of pricing would require a range of forecasts of the effects of
pricing on every scheme or proposal and an entirely new assessment
procedure would be needed to minimise the uncertainties that would
inevitably arise.
13. In the shorter and medium terms, extended
trials of microwave and satellite systems need to be made in the
UK on each level of the road hierarchy. The existing toll roads
and in particular the M6 Toll could be used as test beds for new
systems with the agreement of their operators, as could the more
intensively instrumented sections of the non-tolled motorways.
How "high-tech" does road-pricing need
to be?
14. Again, this question has been largely
addressed earlier. There is a need to be aware that both industrial
and academic experts and to a certain extent the EU are pursuing
the ideal, comprehensive, distance-based system and are confident
that this can be achieved. Adherence to this ideal alone puts
at risk the timescale for implementation and could easily give
rise to major uncertainties for future planning and implementation
of transport infrastructure as well as political uncertainties.
The way forward should therefore be to adopt a staged approach
towards the "ideal" and build on proven technologies
and seek to improve these through both trials and real applications
on new and improved roads and in major urban areas planning charging
schemes.
What role should local highway authorities play
in introducing road pricing?
15. The local highway authorities own their
roads and are responsible for their condition, improvements, costs,
use, safety, revenues (parking) and highways development control.
They are often the local planning authority also with wide ranging
responsibilities including economic development and land use planning
and environmental management. The hierarchy of roads includes
rural lanes, local streets and major all purpose highways. District,
Unitary and County administrative levels are therefore all intimately
concerned with the prospect of road pricing. The metropolitan
areas, the PTEs and the regional assemblies and development agencies
have a wider, sub-regional remit which is well suited to determining
overall transport strategy. We therefore agree with the conclusions
of the feasibility study that recommend a partnership between
central and local government is formed to develop a pricing regime
that meets both national and local objectives.
16. The range of interests local highway
authorities have in the matter can be summarised as follows:
— meeting local economic and environmental
objectives;
— future traffic levels and patterns
eg diversion effects;
— infrastructure maintenance and investment
programmes;
— delivery of alternative transport
modes;
— application of management measures
eg parking control and pricing;
— revenues from pricing-their scale
and their hypothecation;
— longer term land use impacts; and
17. There is a case for two "layers"
of pricing for road use. The first might be a simple, say revenue-neutral
charge for national application over the whole network that would
become a substitute for some or all of the fuel duty. The second
might be the congestion/environmental premium charge or indeed
the regional economic discount to be applied on specific links,
areas or sub-regions. The second layer would be the responsibility
of the specific authority whether it be the Motorway and Trunk
Road authority or local highway authority.
How easy will it be to move from individual toll
roads and local congestion charging schemes in the short term,
to national road pricing in the longer term, and what needs to
be done to ensure the transition is a success?
18. With toll roads it would be appropriate
to maintain a price differential in order to reflect the special
value of using the facility. The problem would be the likely reduction
in traffic or traffic growth rate compared to those factored in
to the concession agreements or otherwise to be counted as the
operators' loss alone. There may be operators' cost savings as
well. These would become the subject of negotiation. Similar negotiations
would be needed in the case of shadow toll schemes funded by the
operators. We do not see particular difficulties of a technical
nature arising from the transition. With congestion charging schemes,
the transition would be programmed to coincide with the expiry
of the operating contractors term or otherwise become the subject
of negotiation.
How will the Lorry Road User Charge fit into any
national road pricing and motorway tolling developments?
19. The proposals should provide a valuable
pathfinder experience and usefully inform and guide the evolving
structure of a national scheme for all vehicles. There are similarities
with Germany with both countries working towards the installation
of on board units and satellite positioning.
Are there other measures which could reduce congestion
more effectively?
20. We cannot see any other single measure
that would be able to reduce congestion in such a "targeted"
manner in the sense that it would impact in specific places or
at specific times. It is possible to envisage multiple local applications
tailored to local conditions. These would include more extensive
congestion charging schemes and or work place parking and public
parking levies for urban congestion spots but expanded to include
the suburban "rings". These measures in combination
would provide a more effective and equitable solution for urban
traffic congestion problems over wider areas and include zones
outside urban centres, which already exhibit serious and deteriorating
conditions. Outside urban areas, other measures would include
multi-modal "corridor" charging plans to deal with congested,
strategic inter-urban links on a comprehensive basis to avoid
unwanted diversion effects.
21. Other, simpler though more radical and
hence more controversial measures might include a fuel-based congestion
tax with local rebates applied in un-congested areas, fuel rationing,
a "progressive" and a distance-based supplement on vehicle
excise duty. In relation to this latter measure, it is of interest
to note the outline proposals by the Norwich Union would charge
for car insurance according to a validated mileage record.
22. Finally there is the option to offer
a choice and quality of travel mode by providing new multi-modal
capacity for the strategic inter-urban/city/region corridors either
by extending and widening existing routes or by providing parallel
ones. This new capacity would employ tolls and fares to influence
modal choice and to lock in the benefits and raise revenues; they
would concentrate environmental impact and could be largely funded
by the private sector. Within congested urban areas and their
suburban rings, the comparable response would be to combine pricing
measures such as congestion charging and overall parking levies
with new capacity at congestion hot spots. This new capacity might
take the form of limited access flyovers and underpasses for cars
or buses (as pioneered in France), designed to maintain or marginally
enhance capacity for normal traffic but to create significant
benefit for buses, cyclists and pedestrians. The Highways Agency
has commissioned recently completed research into the effects
of such measures on transport and the environment.
November 2004
RELATED ICE PUBLICATIONS
The Institution of Civil Engineers Infrastructure
Policy Group, Congestion, 1989.
The Institution of Civil Engineers Infrastructure
Policy Group, Motorway Charging; its Contribution to Transport
Policy Objectives, 1993.
The Institution of Civil Engineers Paying for Transport;
Improving Quality and Choice, 1997.
The Institution of Civil Engineers/The Engineering
Council A vision for transport 2020, 1997.
Madelin, K B, Roads, reality and the customer, Proceedings
of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Transport, 2000, 141,
4, 179-186.
The Institution of Civil Engineers' Transport Board,
Briefing: Road congestion: how modal shift and planning could
reduce it. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
Transport, 2004, 157, TR1, 3-5.
Copley, G, and Dodgson, J, Evaluation of a national
congestion charging system, Proceedings of the Institution
of Civil Engineers, Transport 2004 157, TR2, 117-123.
The Institution of Civil Engineers with The Transport
Planning Society, The Institution of Highways and Transportation
and The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK). Leaflet:
Road pricing: a guide to public understanding—December 2004
(in production).
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