European Transport / Trasporti Europei (2006) 32/XI

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  • Publication
    Evaluating different pricing policies on social welfare: an application to Madrid Barajas
    (EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2006)
    Martin, Juan Carlos
    ;
    Betancor, Ofelia
    In this paper, we assess the potential impacts of different airport charges schemes that can be applied in Madrid Barajas airport. We use a model that has already been applied in the literature to calculate the social welfare of the different price regimes. The term social welfare refers to the social welfare generated from only aeronautical services, while the social welfare created from non-aeronautical activities will not be discussed here. We define, as is common in the literature, that the social welfare is the sum of consumer surplus and producer surplus. We analyze the potential impact of different pricing policies using the values obtained on social welfare, and using the concept of ‘potential loss of social welfare’ when the lack of adequate capacity preclude the potential demand from using the airport. Thus, we evaluate the “losses” or “gains” of each alternative pricing policy. Our results may contribute to the ongoing debate in Madrid and around Europe about the merits of adjusting airport charges to different scenarios, e.g. congestion or lack of capacity or excess of capacity, in which airports are usually involved.
      1120  1656
  • Publication
    An investigation into the reasons for the rejection of congestion charging by the citizens of Edinburgh
    (EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2006)
    Allen, Simon
    ;
    Gaunt, Martin
    ;
    Rye, Tom
    In February 2005, residents of Edinburgh, a medium-sized city in the United Kingdom, were given the opportunity to vote in a referendum on the introduction of a road user charging scheme, which had been in development for almost a decade. The public voted against the scheme by a ratio of 3:1 and it was consequently abandoned. This paper describes the evolution of the scheme, and presents results of research to determine the principle factors responsible for the public's overwhelming opposition to the scheme. The research used a postal, self-completion questionnaire that was distributed to 1300 randomlyselected households in central and southern Edinburgh three months after the referendum. The questionnaire responses were analysed to assess the influence of several factors on the way respondents voted in the referendum. Car use was shown to be the principle determinant of voting behaviour, with car owners strongly opposing the scheme while non-car owners only weakly supported it. The public’s limited understanding of the scheme increased the strength of the opposing vote. Further, the public were largely unconvinced that the scheme would have achieved its dual objectives of reduced congestion and improved public transport. The findings suggest that more attention should have been paid to designing a simpler, more easily communicated, scheme and convincing residents, particularly public transport users, of its benefits. Some other aspects of the scheme that militated against its successful introduction are also briefly identified.
      1751  1924
  • Publication
    Acceptability of road pricing and revenue use in the Netherlands
    (EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2006)
    Ubbels, Barry
    ;
    Verhoef, Erik
    This paper presents the empirical results of a questionnaire among Dutch commuters regularly experiencing congestion, asking for their opinion (in terms of acceptance) on road pricing measures and revenue use targets. We find that road pricing is in general not very acceptable and that revenue use is important for the explanation of the level of acceptance. Road pricing is more acceptable when revenues are used to replace existing car taxation or to lower fuel taxes. Moreover, personal characteristics of the respondent have an impact on support levels. Higher educated people, as well as respondents with a higher value of time and with higher perceived effectiveness of the measure, seem to find road pricing measures more acceptable than other people. When we ask directly for the acceptability of different types of revenue use (not part of a road pricing measure), again abolition of existing car (ownership) taxes receives most support whereas the general budget is not acceptable.
      1424  1644
  • Publication
    Evaluation of the implementation process of urban road pricing schemes in the United Kingdom and Italy
    (EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2006)
    Ieromonachou, Petros
    ;
    Potter, Stephen
    ;
    Warren, James P.
    This paper is based upon detailed research that has taken place in the UK and Italy, on the implementation strategies for urban road pricing schemes. In the UK, both in London and Durham, the Road User Charging schemes required new legislation, and were implemented rapidly. The time from announcement to implementation took three years and the schemes were introduced after short periods of intensive planning, consultations and stakeholder networking. In Italy, the situation has been very different. The road pricing schemes in Rome and Genoa were not introduced under specific legislation but rather evolved from access control zones originally implemented in historic urban centres. The incremental introduction of the Italian road pricing experiments has taken approximately ten years. The paper undertakes a comparison of these different strategies to introduce urban road pricing and the lessons they contain for the development of similar measures elsewhere. The comparison of the different implementing experiences is undertaken using Strategic Policy Niche Management, a method designed to explore, among other factors, the dynamics of the stakeholder networks involved in planning, introducing, marketing and managing radical urban Travel Demand Management policies.
      1264  2433
  • Publication
    Impact and effectivity of “Free” Public Transport measures: lessons from the case study of Brussels
    (EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2006)
    Macharis, Cathy
    ;
    De Witte, Astrid
    ;
    Steenberghen, Thérèse
    ;
    Van de Walle, Stefaan
    ;
    Lannoy, Pierre
    ;
    Polain, Céline
    The objective of the paper is to examine and to asses the effects of the introduction of a third payer system on the mobility behaviour from a multidisciplinary viewpoint. This approach allows an analysis of various effects that free public transport and, in general, price policies can entail. The concept of the “third payer system” implies that the cost of public transport is not paid by the user or provider, but partially or completely by a third party. Local authorities, other public organisations and private organisations can enter into such agreements and pay for public transport for a specific target group in a specific area. The analysis has been performed through a case study, namely the introduction of free urban public transport for students at Dutch-speaking universities and colleges in Brussels. In how far this measure contributes to a more sustainable mobility system has caused much debate. Also, not everyone is convinced that such a measure is beneficial for the society. Some people argue that there are better ways to spend the money, for instance on the quality of public transport. In order to assess whether this measure has societal benefits, a social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA) has been carried out. This analysis calculates the benefits and costs of the measure, in order to find out if the balance is positive or negative.
      1567  4679