DESIRE - DEsigns for Interurban Road pricing schemes in Europe
Overview
Background & policy context:
The decade of the 90s witnessed significant political statements supported by several studies standing for the need of a more efficient transport system as a sine qua non condition for the promotion of sustainable growth and development in Europe.
This aim was clearly stated by the European Commission's Green Paper 'Towards fair and efficient pricing in transport' where price is seen as an essential part of the required policy mix in order to curb congestion, accidents and pollution. The paper advocates that an efficient pricing regime in transport is the one, which seeks to internalise the various externalities currently threatening sustainable growth.
More recently, the Commission's White Paper on 'Fair Payment for Infrastructure Use' takes a stepwise approach, advocating as a first step the introduction of a more cost related electronic charge to succeed the current 'Eurovignette' system. Electronic road pricing clearly has a European dimension originating, among others, from the necessity for interoperability, therefore, the convergence of these systems is of utmost importance in the Community.
The first aim of this project is thus of clear EU added value, by practically assessing inter-urban road pricing schemes (IRPS) in Europe, and providing guidelines not only for the design of those schemes but also to overcome its implementation difficulties.
The guidelines and recommendations that will be produced by the project will help policy makers in defining and setting up policies for a more efficient use of existing road networks, and the consequent improvement of efficiency and effectiveness in the dynamics of economic and social relations between regions and sectors of the Community. The exploitation potential of the project is thus very high, given the active policy development following the Commission's White Paper.
The project will directly contribute to fulfil the stated aims of the White Paper, as well as to achieve a more balanced exploitation of roads with the consequent positive impact in the potential to attract private capital as an alternative source of financing of the TEN investments.
Positive environmental effects will also arise from the internalisation of external costs of transport and there will be a reduction of congestion costs, with strong benefits for the quality of life of European citizens.
Objectives:
The overall objective of DESIRE was to provide a practical assessment of the effectiveness of interurban road pricing in Europe as well as its impacts, by providing guidelines for the design of electronic road pricing schemes and offering solutions to difficulties relating to implementation.
The research was built to achieve the following main technical and scientific objectives:
- provision of a set of best designs for future inter urban road pricing schemes for heavy vehicles, considering the possible extension to individual mobility;
- in depth analysis of the different aspects with determinant impact in the success of the implementation of these schemes (including contractual and institutional operation as well as all issues related with the enhancement of its acceptability);
- provision of clear guidelines and recommendations for the design, financing and implementation of inter urban road pricing schemes for heavy vehicles in the different existing regulatory and organisational settings, with specific advise regarding the pros and cons of the different possible schemes.
Methodology:
The project was organised along a sequence of six phases each one entailing the following objectives:
- An inception phase where the consolidation of findings from previous research was done together with a survey on the state of affairs on this issue in the various countries. The project thus started by reviewing not only of the diversity of tolling schemes in existence and in preparation but also the diversity of political and economic objectives for the introduction of road charges;
- The design of a theoretical foundation of possible designs for IRPS for heavy vehicles;
- The assessment of 10 case studies covering a wide diversity of EU countries, plus Switzerland, Hungary and Brazil;
- Testing of IPRS schemes developed against a consistent framework;
- Identification of best functional schemes and implementation issues, where a selection of best key elements in each IPRS scheme was made together with the best design guidelines and principles in terms of potential for successful implementation;
- Finally a synthesis of the project providing clear guidelines on the pros and cons of each IPRS scheme.
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