SURPRICE (Sustainable mobility through road user charging) ; Swiss contribution: Comprehensive Road User Charging (RUC)

• Forschungsstelle: ASTRA SBT
• Projektnummer: ASTRA2010/018

Schlüsselwörter (Englisch)

Interoperability of road user systems, legal framework conditions for systems, impact analysis and methodology for the political decision

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

The project focuses on the possible design, interoperability and regulation of a RUC system that develops around the urban/interurban and passenger/freight interface covering all traditional external cost components. In this interface the project will develop system concepts based on state-of-the-art knowledge of external cost estimates and game theoretical regulatory, interoperability and acceptability issues. The system will be examined in three case studies (CS) where the first takes its starting point at existing interurban freight RUC moving into a city concept (Switzerland > Berne CS), the second takes its starting point at existing urban RUC moving into a interurban concept (Stockholm > Sweden CS) and the last takes its starting point in situation where no RUC exists moving directly towards a comprehensive system (Finland). The impact of different RUC concepts will be evaluated in the CS and a comparative conclusion will be made on different possible development paths of a European Comprehensive RUC.

Projektbeschreibung (Englisch)

The project is structured in three workpackages:

· The first Work package (Wp) will in four tasks develop the system concepts. The first task will review the current state-of-the-art on estimates of the external cost of transport in traditional subcategories. The second task will examine regulatory issues under the assumption that a partial focus on one category of road users will neither be efficient nor acceptable. The third task will address the interoperability issue when moving into the urban/interurban passenger/freight interface including effects on the insurance market infrastructure for pay-as-you-speed systems (PAYS). The forth task will shortly address the acceptability issue of a Comprehensive RUC. Based on the above tasks we will draw conclusions on a number of possible designs of RUC and the level of external costs to be internalised for both passenger and freight transport which will be our bases for the impact analysis which will be made in three case studies.

· The second Wp (Switzerland >Bern) takes its starting point in existing interurban freight (Switzerland) transport RUC moving into urban RUC (Berne). The urban area of Berne is – in a European context – a rather small area (approx. 300’000 inhabitants). Therefore, the case study will provide additional insights on the suitability of RUC systems for smaller urban areas, an issue of Swiss and European interest.

· The third Wp (Stockholm > Sweden) takes its starting point at the existing urban RUC (Stockholm) evolving into interurban RUC (Sweden). Stockholm introduced a RUC system after a full-scale trial and a referendum. In contrast to Switzerland, Sweden has no RUC system outside Stockholm. On the networks detailed cost calculations based on small sections will be applied for road deterioration, accidents, air pollution, fuel consumption, noise and travel time (Heavy-Route). These detailed cost calculations will enable us to test different forms of RUC covering a number of cases from congestion based cordon toll over distance based congestion RUC to detailed RUC including PAYS schemes.

· The forth Wp (Finland) will assess a combined Helsinki and national system in Finland. No RUC exists today but separate processes are going on both for south-eastern region of Finland and the Helsinki region. This case study will examine these connections and consider how the schemes and which issues are similar and which differ as the combination of integrated schemes at different policy levels is likely to create problems for the decision making and implementation processes.

The fifth Wp will conclude.

Erwartete Erkenntnisse/ Nutzen, Nutzniesser (Englisch)

Based on development of current research and experience from actual policy and case studies we will:

· Identify critical issues regarding design, interoperability and regulation when introducing a comprehensive RUC in the urban/interurban passenger/freight interface including all external effects.

· The magnitude of the effects depending on design

· Development paths of European Comprehensive RUC will presented

The outcome is thus a better understanding of the design, interoperability and regulation for a more far reaching and future looking RUC system than what is in the policy development today. The research will identify important path to take for this future development. The long term impact could consequently influence the development of financing and organisation of the European road transport infrastructure.

Methoden (Englisch)

Literature review, desk analysis, cost calculation, project appraisal

Spezielle Geräte und Installationen (Englisch)

None

Allgemeiner Stand der Forschung (Englisch)

Large scale European Union research has been conducted on external cost of transport. For infrastructure cost the literature starts at Newbery (1988) and Small (1989) and latest research are summarised in Andersson (2006) which is the result from the CATRIN project. External accident cost is discussed in for example Lindberg (2001), valuation in Andersson and Lindberg (2009) and pay as you speed pricing in Lindberg and Hultcrantz (2009). Noise cost can be found in Andersson and Ögren (2007) while a comprehensive overview of the ExternE approach for environmental cost is found in Friedrich and Bickel (2001). Summarise of external cost of transport is found in Bickel et al (2006) from the HEATCO project and Lindberg et al (2006) from the GRACE project. The so called Handbook gives detailed values and recommendations as an input to the European legislation (Maibach et al 2008) with latest research and local values in use. Parry and Small (2005) summarise the US experience.

The issue of optimal pricing and regulation in transport networks is not new. There are a number of studies on parallel network structures studying various aspects of pricing of parallel congestible roads, see for instance Verhoef et al. (1996), De Palma and Lindsey (2000) and de Borger et al. (2006). There are also several studies addressing pricing in serial networks, see for instance Levinson (2001), de Borger et al. (2006), Bassanini and Pouyet (2005) and Agrell and Pouyet (2006). However, none of these studies consider cooperative behavior among the owners of a network which will be covered here.The technical interoperability is discussed in for example Sundberg (2003) followed by the EFC directive (EC 2004). Literature on the more market oriented interoperability can be found for the telecom sector in for example Kwoka (1993) and Madden (2003) but this is less developed in the RUC sector. In the insurance market new systems are developed based on driven distance – pay-as-you-drive – with later development towards pay-as-you-speed systems (Hulkrantz and Lindberg 2010). On acceptability for urban RUC for passenger cars a large literature already exists as for example Jones (1995) and Schade and Schlag (2000)). The general conclusion is that the acceptance is higher if it is conceived as a problem, is a part of policy package including some form of earmarking and a champion for the policy exists. However, less research exists around the acceptability in the passenger/freight interface.

Modelling urban road pricing is discussed in numerous case studies as London, Singapore, Edinburgh and Stockholm (Eliasson et al 2006) and Hensher and Pucket (2005) for UK for example. Recent developments on more Comprehensive RUC include discussions in New Zealand and Australia (http://www.transport.govt.nz/ourwork/Land/RoadUserCharges/).

Projektziele (Englisch)

Road user charging (RUC) in Europe has hitherto been developed along two different tracks: urban RUC with a focus on passenger cars and congestion problem (in Stockholm and London) and interurban RUC with a focus solely on Heavy Goods vehicles pioneered by Switzerland (HVF) followed by Austria, Germany and other countries.

This project aims at developing proposals on the possible design, interoperability and regulation of a new RUC system (or systems) that evolves from one of the two sides – interurban or urban – into a comprehensive system covering all external cost components.

Forschungsplan (Englisch)

Autumn 2010:

1. Inception report.

2. Joint kick-off internal conference and workshop for all CTS Surprice projects (see attachment and item
6a). Scope of study presented to workshop participants.

3. Start of Wp 1 and preparation of Wp 2 – 4.

4. Draft presentation of each task in Wp1.

5. Workshop meeting

Spring 2011:

1. Deliverable 1: System concept for a European Comprehensive RUC (collection of four papers).

2. Possibly joint workshop meeting with other CTS Surprice projects.

3. Start of Case studies Wp 2 – 4.

4. Workshop meeting to align case studies

Spring 2011:

1. Draft Case studies report presented

2. Presentation at the European Transport Conference

3. Deliverable 2: Case studies reports (collection of three papers)

4. Draft Deliverable 3 - Final Report

5. Final joint workshop/internal conference for all CTS Surprice projects

Spring 2012:

1. Deliverable 3: Final Report - Development path for a European Comprehensive RUC

Umsetzung und Anwendungen (Englisch)

The two first deliverables will be written as collection of papers. These papers will be presented at seminars, workshops and conferences. The aim is to have them published in scientific journals.

The final report will be written in a non-technical style and distributed to policy makers both at national and European level. All partners have well established network both nationally, in the European context and internationally. While presentation at large conferences are important and may reach a certain audience our experience is that the day to day contact with policymakers is necessary to get dissemination at the policy level. All partners in the project are extremely well situated for the policy dissemination.

All the CTS-Surprice projects will have a joint final conference presenting conclusions from all projects to researchers and policy-makers.

Berichtsnummer (Deutsch)

1482

Berichtsnummer (Englisch)

1482