Seeking Factors to Increase the Public's Acceptability of Road-Pricing Schemes

Abstract

User acceptability has become a critical issue for the successful implementation of transport pricing measures and policies. Although several studies have addressed the public acceptability of road pricing, little evidence can be found of the effects of pricing strategies. The acceptability of alternative schemes for a toll network already in operation is an issue to be tackled. This paper contributes to the limited literature in this field by exploring perceptions toward road-pricing schemes among toll road users. On the basis of a nationwide survey of toll road users in Spain, the study developed several binomial logit models to analyze user acceptability of three approaches: express toll lanes, a time-based pricing approach, and a flat fee (vignette) system. The results show notable differences in user acceptability by the type of charging scheme proposed. Express toll lanes were more acceptable by travelers who perceived greater benefits from saving travel time. The acceptability of time-based approaches (peak versus off-peak) decreased for users who felt forced to use the toll road, whereas this was not an aspect that significantly influenced users’ support for flat fee schemes. In addition, a flat fee strategy was more acceptable for long-distance trips and truck drivers who regularly used the toll facilities. The results from this analysis can inform policy makers and planners for the promotion of more efficient, socially inclusive, and publicly acceptable road-pricing schemes.

Drivers’ adoption of electronic payment in the Spanish toll road network

“…The second group covers different trip-related attributes such as type of vehicle, trip purpose, or trip frequency. Finally, the third group comprises attitudinal variables specific to individuals, such as their previous awareness on electronic toll collection systems, their perceptions and beliefs towards toll rates and time savings provided by toll facilities, or their personal benefits from the toll policy (Bueno et al 2017). The questionnaire collected information from individuals covering this three groups of variable (see Appendix 1).…”

“…Finally, the survey collected further variables regarding users' willingness to pay in interurban toll roads (Gomez et al 2015) and users' acceptability towards different road pricing schemes (Bueno et al 2017). The research also considers further aspects which may influence users' attitudes such as unitary toll rates applied and the type of tolled infrastructure (tunnel/interurban section).…”

User Perspectives on Distance- and Time-Based Road Tolling Schemes: European Case Study

“…The key factors affecting the MAP values for DB and TB road pricing were users' income and frequency of motorway usage, with those with higher income being more willing to pay and more frequent users being less willing to pay, similar to conclusions from Yusuf et al (2014). Contrary to some previous studies that concluded that income does not influence WTP or acceptability (Bueno et al 2017;Gomez et al 2017;Jaensirisak et al 2005), one must take into account the fact that users in North Macedonia might be poor in both time and money. Thus, income can have a significant effect on the very capacity to afford road pricing for certain social groups.…”

“…Despite the wide range of literature on user perspectives, most of the previous literature focuses on only one motorway pricing scheme without accounting for differences between schemes (Jaensirisak et al 2005;Bueno et al 2017;Jou et al 2012). In general, research has shown that more complex road pricing schemes are likely to be less acceptable (Bonsall et al 2007;Vrtic et al 2007;Zmud and Arce 2008).…”

“…Additional research from Germany, where vehicles under 3.5 t currently do not have to pay road tolls, focused on assessing welfare changes from TB and DB road pricing scenarios, including compensation measures and based on travel diaries (Raub et al 2013). The only research efforts focused on Europe exploring user perspectives on different road pricing schemes in the context of existing road pricing schemes were conducted in Norway (Odeck and Kjerkreit 2010) and Spain (Bueno et al 2017). This Norwegian case also considered regional differences in relation to road pricing acceptance, similar to the extension of the research conducted on Spanish road pricing (Gomez et al 2017).…”