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Determinants of congestion pricing acceptability

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We explore what variables influence public attitudes towards congestion charges using a survey carried out in Stockholm, Helsinki and Lyon, three European cities with many similarities but with different experiences and discourses with respect to congestion charging. We find that self-interest matters in the expected way, with lower support in groups with higher expected payments and lower value of travel time savings. However, self-interest variables only contribute 20-50% to total explained variation in attitudes. The rest is explained by differences in respondents’ attitudes to environment, trust in public agencies, and views about the fairness of pricing policies in general. What issues are associated to congestion charges are similar in all the cities, but the strength of the associations seems to vary depending on how congestion pricing is framed in the specific local discourse. The most important factor seems to be experience of congestion pricing, which increases support substantially.

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  • Hamilton, Carl J. & Eliasson, Jonas & Brundell-Freij, Karin & Raux, Charles & Souche, Stephanie & Kiiskilää, Kati & Tervonen, Juha, 2014. "Determinants of congestion pricing acceptability," Working papers in Transport Economics 2014:11, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI).
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2014_011
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    Cited by:

    1. Vanoutrive, Thomas & Zijlstra, Toon, 2018. "Who has the right to travel during peak hours? On congestion pricing and ‘desirable’ travellers," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 98-107.
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    3. Börjesson, Maria & Eliasson, Jonas & Hamilton, Carl, 2016. "Why experience changes attitudes to congestion pricing: The case of Gothenburg," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1-16.
    4. Eliasson, Jonas, 2016. "Is congestion pricing fair? Consumer and citizen perspectives on equity effects," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-15.
    5. Eliasson, Jonas, 2017. "Congestion pricing," MPRA Paper 88224, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Cats, Oded & Zhang, Chen & Nissan, Albania, 2016. "Survey methodology for measuring parking occupancy: Impacts of an on-street parking pricing scheme in an urban center," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 55-63.
    7. 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.
    8. Krabbenborg, Lizet & Molin, Eric & Annema, Jan Anne & van Wee, Bert, 2020. "Public frames in the road pricing debate: A Q-methodology study," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 46-53.
    9. Krabbenborg, Lizet & van Langevelde-van Bergen, Chris & Molin, Eric, 2021. "Public support for tradable peak credit schemes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 243-259.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Congestion charges; Transport pricing; Acceptability; Attitudes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy

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