Road pricing is a term that refers to the charging for the use of streets and roads. This is usually done by charging motorists directly for their use. It can include tolls imposed by the owners of specific roads as well as charges imposed by (usually local) governments for the use of any roads within some defined zone. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

European application

Facing rising levels of traffic congestion, European governments are giving serious consideration to nationwide road pricing schemes which would exploit the new Galileo satellite positioning system. Every vehicle would have to contain a satellite tracking device which would determine which roads were being driven along, for how far and at what time of day. This information would then be sent to a central computer system. This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... The Galileo positioning system, referred to simply as Galileo, is a proposed Global Navigation Satellite System, to be built by the European Satellite Navigation Industries for the European Union and European Space Agency (ESA) as an alternative to the United States operated Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian GLONASS...

See Toll roads in Europe for details on all countries. // [edit] Specialised system provisions [edit] Stickers Austria (for vehicles to 3. ...

Germany

Schemes for charging trucks (lorries) in Germany by the company Toll Collect, and Austria are already underway. Under the German scheme, which went live on January 1, 2005, trucks pay between €0.09 and €0.14 per kilometer depending on their emission levels and number of axles. The expensive scheme, combining satellite technology with other technologies, suffered numerous delays before implementation, whilst a scheme using much simpler technology in Austria was up and running in 2004. In the UK, the Labour government announced in July 2005 that the proposed UK truck road user charging scheme would not go ahead. Toll Collect GmbH is a German company that has developed and is running the toll billing system for trucks on German motorways. ... The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in England, Scotland and Wales. ...

Italy

For some years, all Italian highways can be used on the base of a toll payment, also by electronic TELEPASS system. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Telepass is the brand name for an electronic toll collection system used to collect toll (pedaggio) on motorways (autostrade) in Italy operated by Autostrade per lItalia S.p. ...

Malta

A fully automated system called a Controlled Vehicular Access (CVA) system has been launched in Malta's capital city of Valletta since 1 May 2007 ^[1]. A number of innovations have been introduced including variable payments according to the duration of stay, flexible exemption rules, including exemptions for residents within the charging zone and monthly billing options for vehicle owners. is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

Norway

One of the earliest schemes was introduced in Bergen in Norway in 1986.^[2]. Only traffic entering the town is charged and only during weekdays from 06.00 through to 22.00. Public service vehicles pay no charge. County Hordaland District Midhordland Municipality NO-1201 Administrative centre Bergen Mayor (2006) Herman Friele (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 215 465 km² 445 km² 0. ...

The system is fully electronic using a system called AutoPASS with most local drivers purchasing a tag which is automatically read on passing the detectors. The same system is used throughout Norway for toll roads and congestion charging schemes etc. Motorists without a tag pay a fee at a manual barrier.

UK

Durham became the first city in the UK to have a permanent congestion charge in 2002.^[3] London has had a congestion charge in the central area since 2003. The organisation responsible for the charge is Transport for London (TfL). The fee was introduced on February 17, 2003.^[4] Initially set at £5, then raised on July 4, 2005, to £8,^[5] the daily charge must be paid by the registered keeper of a vehicle that enters, leaves or moves around within the congestion charge zone between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. (previously 6:30 p.m.), Monday to Friday. Failure to pay the charge means a fine of at least £50. A similar scheme is proposed in Manchester (see Manchester Congestion Charge), covering a wider area but with a much smaller daily charging window covering the morning and evening rush hours. Durham (IPA: locally, in RP) is a small city and main settlement of the City of Durham district of County Durham in North East England. ... Sign on entrance The charging zone pay booth at exit Since October 2002 - drivers have been charged a fee to access the very heart of Durham City, leading up to the Cathedral, Castle and Palace Green (shown here) The Durham City congestion charge was the first (congestion charge) to be... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The white-on-red C marks all entrances to the congestion charge zone although in some areas the charge zone is poorly signed, and accidental journeys into the zone can occur The London congestion charge is a fee for some motorists entering the Central London area. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Transport For London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system throughout Greater London in England. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Manchester Congestion Charge is a proposed scheme of road charging for the Greater Manchester area. ...

Various trials have taken place in British cities - the City of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, for example, had experimented with congestion charging as far back as 1993.^[6] Geography Status City (1951) Region East of England Admin. ...

Extensive studies are being done on introducing a scheme for all UK vehicles, with an aim to implementation at the earliest around 2013. In October 2005 the UK government suggested they explore "piggy-backing" road pricing on private sector technologies, such as pay-as-you-go insurance (also known as Pay As You Drive PAYD), thus avoiding a large-scale public sector procurement exercise. If introduced, this scheme would likely see a charge being levied per kilometre depending on the time of day, the road being driven along, and perhaps the type of vehicle. For example, a large car driving along the western section of the M25 in rush hour would pay a high charge; a small car driving along a rural lane would pay a much lower charge. The very highest charges would be likely in the most congested urban areas. It is expected that rural motorists would benefit the most from such a scheme, perhaps by paying less through road pricing than they do at present through petrol and car taxes, whereas urban motorists would pay much more than they presently do. However, this is highly dependent on whether such a scheme would be designed to be either revenue neutral or congestion neutral. A revenue neutral scheme would replace (at least in part) petrol and vehicle taxes, and would be such that Treasury revenue under the new scheme would equal the revenue from current taxes. A congestion neutral scheme would be designed so that growth in congestion levels would stop as a result of the new charges; the latter scheme would require significantly higher (and increasingly higher) charges than the revenue neutral scheme and so would be unpopular with the UK's 30 million motorists. The carbon emission consequence of moving from fuel duty to a charge per mile has been raised as a concern by some environmentalists, as has any diversionary response from heavily trafficked (and hence more expensive) roads. The UK government announced funding for road pricing research in 7 local areas in November 2005. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... PAYD (or Pay As You Drivetm) is a type of telematic automobile insurance whereby the costs of motoring including motor insurance and road pricing are dependent upon vehicle usage, particularly distance travelled. ... The M25 motorway looking south between junctions 14 and 15, near Heathrow Airport. ... The new eastern entrance to HM Treasury HM Treasury (Her/His Majestys Treasury) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for and putting into effect the UK Governments financial and economic policy. ...

In June 2005, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced the current proposals to introduce road pricing.^[7][8] Every vehicle would have a black box to allow a satellite system to track their journey, with prices ranging from 2p per mile on quiet country roads to £1.34 on motorways at peak times. The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. ... Alistair Maclean Darling (born November 28, 1953) is a British politician. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

A 2007 online petition against road pricing, started by Peter Roberts and hosted by the British government, attracted over 1.8 million signatures, equivalent to 6% of the entire driving population. Over 150,000 signatures were added during the last day before the petition closed on Februray 20, 2007. In reply, the prime minister has e-mailed the petitioners outlining his rationale, denying that the proposals were to introduce a stealth tax or increase surveillance, and promising 'debate' before a decision was made as to whether to introduce a national scheme.^[9] Also, in a recent poll 74% of those questioned opposed road pricing.^[10]

The current government did not originally float the idea of road user pricing for all UK vehicles; the Conservative government was also studying the idea in the 1980s, though principally considering tolling to pay for the construction of motorways rather than to control congestion. Even back in the early 1960s, the Smeed Report considered how to implement congestion charging.^[11] The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and the oldest political party in the United Kingdom. ...

Singapore

Main article: Electronic Road Pricing

The Electronic Road Pricing is an electronic toll collection scheme adopted in Singapore, implemented by the Land Transport Authority in September 1998 to replace the Singapore Area Licensing Scheme after successfully stress-testing the system with speeding Lamborghinis, Porsches and Ferraris. It is the first city in the world to implement an electronical toll collection system. ERP gantry at North Bridge Road The Electronic Road Pricing (Abbreviation: ERP; Chinese: 电子道路收费系统; Malay: Sistem Kadar Jalan Elektronik) scheme is an electronic toll collection scheme adopted in Singapore to manage traffic by road pricing, and as a usage-based taxation mechanism to complement the purchase-based Certificate of Entitlement system. ... ERP gantry at North Bridge Road The Electronic Road Pricing (Abbreviation: ERP; Chinese: 电子道路收费系统; Malay: Sistem Kadar Jalan Elektronik) scheme is an electronic toll collection scheme adopted in Singapore to manage traffic by road pricing, and as a usage-based taxation mechanism to complement the purchase-based Certificate of Entitlement system. ... Many ETC systems use transponders like this one to electronically debit the accounts of registered cars without their stopping Transponder used in some Chilean freeways Electronic toll collection (ETC), an adaptation of military identification friend or foe technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads. ... The Land Transport Authority (LTA; Chinese: 陆路交通管理局) of Singapore is a statutory board of the Ministry of Transport. ... The Singapore Area Licensing Scheme, introduced in 1975, charged drivers entering downtown Singapore, and thereby aimed to manage vehicle traffic. ... Automobili Lamborghini S.p. ... This article is about the auto company. ... Ferrari is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello and Modena, Italy. ...

New York proposal

Main article: New York congestion pricing

On April 22, 2007, Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York City, citing what he considered to be successes in London, Singapore and Stockholm, proposed a plan^[12] to charge $8 per day for cars to use the streets of the central business district (southern half of Manhattan) but not when using only the marginal highways, or nights or weekends. It would not involve satellite location, but drivers who wanted their tolls collected automatically could have a transponder like the E-ZPass already used to collect tolls on tunnels and bridges. New York congestion pricing is a proposed traffic congestion fee for vehicles traveling into or within the Manhattan central business district of New York City. ... Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born 14 February 1942) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and the founder of Bloomberg L.P., currently serving as the Mayor of New York City. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Nickname: Location of Stockholm in northern Europe Coordinates: , Country Sweden Municipality Stockholm Municipality County Stockholm Province Södermanland and Uppland Charter 13th century Government  - Mayor Kristina Axén Olin (m) Population (March 2007)  - City 786,509  - Density 4,160/km² (10,774. ... Manhattan is a borough of New York City, New York, USA, coterminous with New York County. ... An Earth observation satellite, ERS 2 For other uses, see Satellite (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Immediately following the April 22nd announcement, a coalition under the banner Campaign for New York's Future came out in support of the Mayor's sustainability proposal, PlaNYC 2030. Others opposed it, saying it would cause asthma or create "rat run" districts at the border. Opponent of the plan, state lawmaker Richard Brodsky issued a report on what he believes will be the plan's harmful effects. He calls it a "regressive tax" on the poor and middle class and harmful to citizens of New York City's outer boroughs.^[13] The Campaign for New Yorks Future is a coalition of civic, business, environmental, labor, community and public health organizations that supports the goals and strategic direction of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s sustainability proposal, PlaNYC 2030. ... PlaNYC is a design for the sustainability of New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s outline for his vision for the city over the next twenty-five years. ... Richard Brodsky (b. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ...

On July 16, 2007, the New York State legislature shelved the proposal to bring congestion pricing to Manhattan.^[14] Instead, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver proposed a commission to study other ways to reduce traffic, leaving the $500M in federal funding to support the change in jeopardy. There was little debate about the substance of the issues proposed with the congestion pricing, instead partisan politics seemed to dominate the discussion.^[15] Sheldon Silver (born February 13, 1944) is a politician and member of the United States Democratic Party, currently serving as Speaker of New York State Assembly. ...

Criticisms

Opposition to road pricing, when coming from the broad political left is largely directed at perceptions of fairness.^[16] Charging for something that was once "free" may be seen as unfair. Road pricing has the possibility of being a regressive tax, in that a flat-rate tax falls more heavily on poor drivers than the rich (the fuel tax, while moderately regressive, gives much more incentive to poor drivers than rich drivers to drive more fuel-efficient cars, thereby somewhat negating its regressive aspect). A way for the government to deflect this criticism would be to use the toll revenue to reduce other, equally regressive taxes. New toll roads in a largely free system may be seen as punishing one area when the rest of the system enjoys toll-free motoring. Proponents of pricing would counter the fairness or equity argument by stating that pricing creates a choice, and choices are fair because people are not identical, sometimes people have high values of time (e.g., when they are late for an appointment), sometimes they have lower values of time (e.g., when they are enjoying the drive). The proponents would thus suggest that making all drivers pay the same tax to receive the same service isn't fair if people value the service differently. Another argument is that, while road pricing may be unfair to some road users, the alternative, ie. congestion is unfair to all road users, since it wastes everyone's resources. The ultimate fairness of road pricing is only determined once the use of any net revenues is taken into account. In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms that refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially but not exclusively in the American sense of the word... Justice is a concept involving the fair and moral treatment of all persons, especially in law. ...

Conservative critics such as Steven Norris, on the other hand, say that "free" roads produce positive externalities that outweigh the opportunity cost of congestion, i.e., that road pricing reduces the overall number of journeys, thus harming business and economic growth. In particular, Steven Norris argues that the cost of the congestion charge disproportionately hits low-paid workers whose working hours start at night when public transport is not available and end when the congestion period is in force, indirectly hitting London's service economy. This article deals with conservatism as a political philosophy. ... Steve Norris Steve Norris is a British Conservative politician. ... An externality occurs in economics when a decision (for example, to pollute the atmosphere) causes costs or benefits to individuals or groups other than the person making the decision. ... In economics, opportunity cost, or economic cost, is the cost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone (and the benefits which could be received from that opportunity), or the most valuable forgone alternative (or highest-valued option forgone), i. ...

Motoring interest groups see road pricing as an additional financial burden on already allegedly over-taxed car owners. Many are not opposed to road tolls as such, but wish to see them as a replacement for fuel tax rather than an additional charge.^[17] Motoring clubs operate across the globe offering a variety of services to members. ...

Some groups of libertarian inclination, such as the Association of British Drivers and Liberty, criticize road pricing on the basis of individual rights. They argue that freedom of movement is a fundamental right that should not be infringed through financial barriers, and that state surveillance of people's movements is not acceptable in a free country. See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ... The Association of British Drivers, founded in 1992, is a British motorists advocacy group. ... Individual rights is a legal term referring to what one is allowed to do and what can be done to an individual. ... Title page of a European Union member state passport. ...

Note that some libertarians in general, however, favor transfer of roads to private ownership, which is likely to result in tolls for individual roads, set on a profit-maximizing rather than an economic welfare-maximizing basis, which in many cases is likely to lead to a higher toll.^{[citation needed]} A private road is a road owned and maintained by a private individual, organization, or company rather than by a government. ...

Others see proposed schemes, such as PAYD based upon a compulsory GPS tracking system, as an infringement on their rights to privacy, and fear that such a vast surveilance system may be abused.^[18][19] PAYD (or Pay As You Drivetm) is a type of telematic automobile insurance whereby the costs of motoring including motor insurance and road pricing are dependent upon vehicle usage, particularly distance travelled. ... Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Civil liberties is the name given to freedoms that protect the individual from government. ... Privacy has no definite boundaries and it has different meanings for different people. ... A closed-circuit television camera. ...

The general public appears to have concerns about the proposed introduction of road pricing in the UK, with fears that the government could be using it to increase motoring taxes overall.^[20] In 2003, the Institute of Public Policy Research think-tank concluded that overall road pricing would have to raise more money than current taxes if it were to reduce congestion.^[21] Local authorities have been denied access to government transport funds for not including proposals for road pricing in their applications.^[22] The Institute for Public Policy Research is a think tank in the United Kingdom, with close links to the ruling Labour Party. ...

See also

• Toll road
• List of toll roads
• List of toll bridges
• Stockholm congestion tax
• Toll roads around the World

This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The following is a list of toll roads. ... The following is a list of toll bridges. ... The Stockholm congestion tax or The Stockholm Trials (in Swedish: Trängselskatt i Stockholm or Stockholmsförsöket) is a traffic congestion and environmental tax that will be imposed on most vehicles in Stockholm, Sweden during a trial period between January 3, 2006 and July 31, 2006. ... Toll gate San Marcos, at the México-Puebla highway. ...

References

2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 145th day of the year (146th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ...

Further reading

• Smeed, R.J. (1964), "Road pricing: the economic and technical possibilities", HMSO.

External links

• Road pricing case studies
• Combating Gridlock - Study of Deloitte Research on Congestion Charging
• National Alliance Against Tolls (Campaign against UK road pricing plans)
• An alternative to congestion charging
• Criticism of Road Pricing from SafeSpeed, a libertarian motoring organisation
• Road pricing world wide Overview and cases
• New York City Congestion Pricing Primer