IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v142y2020icp319-342.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Toll roads vs. Public transportation: A study on the acceptance of congestion-calming measures in Madrid

Author

Listed:
  • Romero, Fernando
  • Gomez, Juan
  • Paez, Antonio
  • Vassallo, José Manuel

Abstract

To relieve road congestion, a variety of transport demand management measures (TDM) have been implemented all over the world. The success of these measures has been found to depend at least partially on users’ perception about them. Several articles have jointly addressed the acceptability of public transport improvement (carrot policies) and road pricing (stick policies). However, these research works have not considered discounts on existing toll roads to relieve congestion on free alternative expressways. The objective of this paper is to study the combined acceptance of different congestion-calming policies at the suburban level, including the promotion of toll roads and measures to foster the use of transit. To that end, a survey was conducted among travelers on a commuting transport corridor in the region of Madrid aimed at exploring their perceptions towards four TDM measures, and a choice modeling framework was conducted. The scenarios considered are “carrot” policies, and the results of the analysis indicate that enhancing public transportation enjoys more support among respondents than toll promotions. Motorists using the free highway are more willing to use transit improvements than to opt for a toll road as an alternative regardless of the proposed toll discounts. Among the TDM measures explored, the least supported is the promotion of toll discounts associated with non-household carpooling. Furthermore, according to the results, the adoption of these TDM measures is more influenced by trip-related factors, in particular, the trip frequency and the mode of transport, than by socio-economic characteristics of the traveler. Finally, some geodemographic attributes of the residential location are also found to be statistically significant.

Suggested Citation

  • Romero, Fernando & Gomez, Juan & Paez, Antonio & Vassallo, José Manuel, 2020. "Toll roads vs. Public transportation: A study on the acceptance of congestion-calming measures in Madrid," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 319-342.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:142:y:2020:i:c:p:319-342
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2020.11.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856420307667
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2020.11.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Björn Hårsman & John M. Quigley, 2010. "Political and public acceptability of congestion pricing: Ideology and self-interest," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 854-874.
    2. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Mackett, R. L., 2001. "Policies to attract drivers out of their cars for short trips," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 295-306, October.
    4. Ramjerdi, Farideh & Minken, Harald & Østmoe, Knut, 2004. "10. Norwegian Urban Tolls," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 237-249, January.
    5. Westin, Jonas & Franklin, Joel P. & Proost, Stef & Basck, Pierre & Raux, Charles, 2016. "Achieving political acceptability for new transport infrastructure in congested urban regions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 286-303.
    6. Meeghat Habibian & Ali Rezaei, 2017. "Accounting for systematic heterogeneity across car commuters in response to multiple TDM policies: case study of Tehran," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 681-700, July.
    7. Odeck, James & Kjerkreit, Anne, 2010. "Evidence on users' attitudes towards road user charges--A cross-sectional survey of six Norwegian toll schemes," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 349-358, November.
    8. Ünal, Ayça Berfu & Steg, Linda & Granskaya, Juliana, 2019. "“To support or not to support, that is the question”. Testing the VBN theory in predicting support for car use reduction policies inRussia," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 73-81.
    9. Mote, Jonathon E. & Whitestone, Yuko, 2011. "The social context of informal commuting: Slugs, strangers and structuration," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 258-268, May.
    10. Schuitema, Geertje & Steg, Linda & Forward, Sonja, 2010. "Explaining differences in acceptability before and acceptance after the implementation of a congestion charge in Stockholm," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 99-109, February.
    11. O'Fallon, Carolyn & Sullivan, Charles & Hensher, David A, 2004. "Constraints affecting mode choices by morning car commuters," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 17-29, January.
    12. Milenković, Marina & Glavić, Draženko & Maričić, Milica, 2019. "Determining factors affecting congestion pricing acceptability," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 58-74.
    13. Schakenbos, Rik & Paix, Lissy La & Nijenstein, Sandra & Geurs, Karst T., 2016. "Valuation of a transfer in a multimodal public transport trip," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 72-81.
    14. Abrahamse, Wokje & Keall, Michael, 2012. "Effectiveness of a web-based intervention to encourage carpooling to work: A case study of Wellington, New Zealand," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 45-51.
    15. S. Jaensirisak & M. Wardman & A. D. May, 2005. "Explaining Variations in Public Acceptability of Road Pricing Schemes," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 39(2), pages 127-154, May.
    16. Kevin Washbrook & Wolfgang Haider & Mark Jaccard, 2006. "Estimating commuter mode choice: A discrete choice analysis of the impact of road pricing and parking charges," Transportation, Springer, vol. 33(6), pages 621-639, November.
    17. Winslott-Hiselius, Lena & Brundell-Freij, Karin & Vagland, Asa & Byström, Camilla, 2009. "The development of public attitudes towards the Stockholm congestion trial," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 269-282, March.
    18. Junghwa Kim & Jan-Dirk Schmöcker & Cecilia Bergstad & Satoshi Fujii & Tommy Gärling, 2014. "The influence of personality on acceptability of sustainable transport policies," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 855-872, July.
    19. Miguel Mateos & Paul Pfaffenbichler, 2005. "Location and transport effects of high occupancy vehicle and bus lanes in Madrid," ERSA conference papers ersa05p144, European Regional Science Association.
    20. Garcia-Martinez, Andres & Cascajo, Rocio & Jara-Diaz, Sergio R. & Chowdhury, Subeh & Monzon, Andres, 2018. "Transfer penalties in multimodal public transport networks," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 114(PA), pages 52-66.
    21. Hansla, André & Hysing, Erik & Nilsson, Andreas & Martinsson, Johan, 2017. "Explaining voting behavior in the Gothenburg congestion tax referendum," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 98-106.
    22. Gonçalo Homem de Almeida Correia & João de Abreu e Silva & José Manuel Viegas, 2013. "Using latent attitudinal variables estimated through a structural equations model for understanding carpooling propensity," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(6), pages 499-519, August.
    23. Bueno, Paola Carolina & Gomez, Juan & Peters, Jonathan R. & Vassallo, Jose Manuel, 2017. "Understanding the effects of transit benefits on employees’ travel behavior: Evidence from the New York-New Jersey region," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-13.
    24. Shaheen, Susan PhD & Chan, Nelson & Gaynor, Theresa, 2016. "Casual Carpooling in the San Francisco Bay Area: Understanding User Characteristics, Behaviors, and Motivations," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt4dh2h0rf, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    25. Eriksson, Louise & Garvill, Jörgen & Nordlund, Annika M., 2008. "Acceptability of single and combined transport policy measures: The importance of environmental and policy specific beliefs," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(8), pages 1117-1128, October.
    26. P.E. Canning & S.J. Hughes & E.E. Hellawell & B.C.M. Gatersleben & C.J. Fairhead, 2010. "Reasons for participating in formal employer-led carpool schemes as perceived by their users," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(8), pages 733-745, October.
    27. Xavier Fageda & Ricardo Flores-Fillol, 2018. "Atascos y contaminación en grandes ciudades: Análisis y soluciones," Policy Papers 2018-04, FEDEA.
    28. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    29. Dieplinger, Maria & Fürst, Elmar, 2014. "The acceptability of road pricing: Evidence from two studies in Vienna and four other European cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 10-18.
    30. Gheorghiu, Alexandra & Delhomme, Patricia, 2018. "For which types of trips do French drivers carpool? Motivations underlying carpooling for different types of trips," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 460-475.
    31. Boggio, Margherita & Beria, Paolo, 2019. "The role of transport supply in the acceptability of pollution charge extension. The case of Milan," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 92-106.
    32. Deka, Devajyoti, 2012. "The impacts of non-resident parking restrictions at commuter rail stations," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 451-461.
    33. Khalilikhah, Majid & Habibian, Meeghat & Heaslip, Kevin, 2016. "Acceptability of increasing petrol price as a TDM pricing policy: A case study in Tehran," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 136-144.
    34. Nordlund, A. & Jansson, J. & Westin, K., 2018. "Acceptability of electric vehicle aimed measures: Effects of norm activation, perceived justice and effectiveness," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 205-213.
    35. Thorpe, Neil & Hills, Peter & Jaensirisak, Sittha, 2000. "Public attitudes to TDM measures: a comparative study," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 243-257, October.
    36. Gomez, Juan & Papanikolaou, Anestis & Vassallo, José Manuel, 2016. "Measuring regional differences in users' perceptions towards interurban toll roads," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 22-33.
    37. Correia, Gonçalo & Viegas, José Manuel, 2011. "Carpooling and carpool clubs: Clarifying concepts and assessing value enhancement possibilities through a Stated Preference web survey in Lisbon, Portugal," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 81-90, February.
    38. Espino, Raquel & Román, Concepción, 2020. "Valuation of transfer for bus users: The case of Gran Canaria," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 131-144.
    39. Börjesson, Maria & Hamilton, Carl J. & Näsman, Per & Papaix, Claire, 2015. "Factors driving public support for road congestion reduction policies: Congestion charging, free public transport and more roads in Stockholm, Helsinki and Lyon," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 452-462.
    40. Shaheen, Susan A. & Chan, Nelson D. & Gaynor, Teresa, 2016. "Casual carpooling in the San Francisco Bay Area: Understanding user characteristics, behaviors, and motivations," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 165-173.
    41. Odeck, James & Bråthen, Svein, 1997. "On public attitudes toward implementation of toll roads--the case of Oslo toll ring," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 73-83, April.
    42. Juan Gomez & Anestis Papanikolaou & José Manuel Vassallo, 2017. "Users’ perceptions and willingness to pay in interurban toll roads: identifying differences across regions from a nationwide survey in Spain," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 449-474, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Ning & Wu, Yiping & Rong, Jian & Shao, Juan & Chen, Jiayuan & Zhou, Chenjing, 2023. "Analysis of truckers’ intentions in choosing freeways or parallel national and provincial roads," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    2. Dolge, Kristiāna & Barisa, Aiga & Kirsanovs, Vladimirs & Blumberga, Dagnija, 2023. "The status quo of the EU transport sector: Cross-country indicator-based comparison and policy evaluation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    3. Fafoutellis, Panagiotis & Mantouka, Eleni G. & Vlahogianni, Eleni I., 2022. "Acceptance of a Pay-How-You-Drive pricing scheme for city traffic: The case of Athens," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 270-284.
    4. Galit Cohen-Blankshtain & Hillel Bar-Gera & Yoram Shiftan, 2023. "Congestion pricing and positive incentives: conceptual analysis and empirical findings from Israel," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 607-633, April.
    5. Wang, Xiaokun Cara & Kim, Woojung & Zhang, Dapeng, 2023. "What to do in response to toll increases: A behavioral analysis of freight carriers in New York State," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Moeinaddini, Amin & Habibian, Meeghat, 2023. "Transportation demand management policy efficiency: An attempt to address the effectiveness and acceptability of policy packages," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 317-330.
    2. Christophe Alaux, 2012. "Confiance, acceptabilité et comportement d’achat: la performance des politiques publiques environnementales," Post-Print hal-01824049, HAL.
    3. Julie Bulteau & Thierry Feuillet & Sophie Dantan & Souhir Abbes, 2023. "Encouraging carpooling for commuting in the Paris area (France): which incentives and for whom?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 43-62, February.
    4. Hensher, David A. & Li, Zheng, 2013. "Referendum voting in road pricing reform: A review of the evidence," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 186-197.
    5. Anne Aguiléra & Eléonore Pigalle, 2021. "The Future and Sustainability of Carpooling Practices. An Identification of Research Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, October.
    6. Mehdizadeh, Milad & Shariat-Mohaymany, Afshin, 2020. "Who are more likely to break the rule of congestion charging? Evidence from an active scheme with no referendum voting," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 63-79.
    7. Andrea Baranzini & Stefano Carattini & Linda Tesauro, 2021. "Designing Effective and Acceptable Road Pricing Schemes: Evidence from the Geneva Congestion Charge," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 79(3), pages 417-482, July.
    8. Milenković, Marina & Glavić, Draženko & Maričić, Milica, 2019. "Determining factors affecting congestion pricing acceptability," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 58-74.
    9. Seán Schmitz & Sophia Becker & Laura Weiand & Norman Niehoff & Frank Schwartzbach & Erika von Schneidemesser, 2019. "Determinants of Public Acceptance for Traffic-Reducing Policies to Improve Urban Air Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-16, July.
    10. Habibian, Meeghat & Kermanshah, Mohammad, 2013. "Coping with congestion: Understanding the role of simultaneous transportation demand management policies on commuters," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 229-237.
    11. Li, Xintong & Han, Chunyang & Huang, Helai & Pervez, Amjad & Xu, Guangming & Hu, Cheng & Jiang, Qianshan & Wei, Yulu, 2023. "Pursuing higher acceptability and compliance for electric two-wheeler standardization policy in China: The importance of socio-demographic characteristics, psychological factors, and travel habits," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    12. Jain, Nikunj Kumar & Kaushik, Kapil & Choudhary, Piyush, 2021. "Sustainable perspectives on transportation: Public perception towards odd-even restrictive driving policy in Delhi, India," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 99-108.
    13. Emma Ejelöv & Andreas Nilsson, 2020. "Individual Factors Influencing Acceptability for Environmental Policies: A Review and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-14, March.
    14. Leonidas G. Anthopoulos & Dimitrios N. Tzimos, 2021. "Carpooling Platforms as Smart City Projects: A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-29, September.
    15. Meeghat Habibian & Ali Rezaei, 2017. "Accounting for systematic heterogeneity across car commuters in response to multiple TDM policies: case study of Tehran," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 681-700, July.
    16. Jun Guan Neoh & Maxwell Chipulu & Alasdair Marshall, 2017. "What encourages people to carpool? An evaluation of factors with meta-analysis," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 423-447, March.
    17. Yi, Xu & Lian, Feng & Yang, Zhongzhen, 2022. "Research on commuters’ carpooling behavior in the mobile internet context," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 14-25.
    18. Yacan Wang & Yu Wang & Luyao Xie & Huiyu Zhou, 2018. "Impact of Perceived Uncertainty on Public Acceptability of Congestion Charging: An Empirical Study in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, December.
    19. Boggio, Margherita & Beria, Paolo, 2019. "The role of transport supply in the acceptability of pollution charge extension. The case of Milan," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 92-106.
    20. Börjesson, Maria & Eliasson, Jonas & Hugosson, Muriel & Brundell-Freij, Karin, 2012. "The Stockholm congestion charges – five years on. Effects, acceptability and lessons learnt," Working papers in Transport Economics 2012:3, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:142:y:2020:i:c:p:319-342. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.