This course, Road user charging: how it works, the challenges and the benefits, was originally offered as a 4-week moderated course in spring 2014 as part of the EU TIDE project. While we can no longer provide expert moderation, we are happy to make the course material open for you to learn from. If you have any questions about this course or about the TIDE project, please contact icre@polisnetwork.eu
As traffic congestion from personal motorised vehicles continues to increase in urban areas, cities are turning to road charging as an effective solution. Road user charging addresses problems such as congested road networks, environmental issues, traffic management and funding challenges for urban infrastructure. This course explains what can be achieved with road user charging, and touches on design, revenue, costs, equity issues and stakeholders, with examples from a number of case studies.
Introduction to the TIDE project and to the road user charging course
What you'll learn and how to take the best advantage of the course
Although road user charging is similar to tolling, there are several fundamental differences as well as distinct benefits of implementing various forms of urban road user charging.
Road user charging has only just come on the radar for use within cities within the past few decades. This chapter explains the scheme's unique characteristics.
This section explains the four different spatial designs of urban road user charging that cities can choose from to meet the needs of their unique local context.
In order to understand the drivers and benefits of congestion charging, it’s important to understand the topic’s theoretical underpinnings. This unit gives some background information, and then goes into more detail about the case of the congestion charge implemented in Stockholm.
A basic understanding of traffic engineering and transport economics is necessary to make an effective road user charging scheme.
Stockholm’s congestion charge is often pointed to as a good practice example. Here you will learn the details of the charge’s implementation.
Well-designed technology can provide greater flexibility in design choices, e.g. by enabling complex charging schemes and overcoming equity concerns by permitting varying charges and exemptions for different types of users.
Several types of user charging and enforcement technology are mentioned, followed by an explanation of the need for an accompanying business system.
For any transport management project, it’s important to understand the potential costs and benefits of its implementation. This is especially true when it comes to road user charging, which is sometimes met with public resistance (at least initially), but which has the potential for great environmental and social benefits.
This book explains how road user charging internalizes the external costs, which can translate into a number of benefits for traffic and emissions reductions.
Costs are explained in the literal (monetary) sense, from initial costs to the recurring operating costs, as well as the drivers of these costs.
The users, stakeholders and decision makers must all be involved in the processes of planning, evaluating and periodically re-evaluating the road user charging scheme. Particularly during the planning and initial implementation, political leadership is a highly influential factor for the project’s success. This unit explains the value that each of these essential groups adds to a road user charging proposal.
This book discusses the groups which are directly and indirectly affected by urban road user charges, and the resulting externalities on road traffic which need to be kept in mind during implementation.
Political leadership is often pointed to as key for the implementation of a road charge to be successful. Transparency of the process is also important, and can be achieved through public stakeholder involvement.
Over the past several decades, urban road user charging schemes have been implemented around the world in a wide array of urban contexts, with many positive outcomes. This unit lists some notable examples, and then digs deeper into two European examples.
Evidence from two case examples shows that urban road user charging can have beneficial results for traffic congestion and emissions reduction, among a number of other variables.
What have you learned and what else can you learn from the TIDE project?
Review of the key messages and resources of this course
A few more resources that may be useful
Congratulations! You have completed the TIDE e-learning course on urban road user charging. Please take a few minutes to let us know about your experience with the course. Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and will be used to improve future e-learning courses.