European Transport / Trasporti Europei (1996) 02

In order to measure the quality of a given service, one must take into account its non-quality elements in terms of costs incurred in for the reduction or removal of any flaws in the service product. The efficiency of the infrastructure, namely the service’s environment, its rapid realisation and its subsequent usage must be closely linked from the designing stage to knowledge of the service itself and of its evolution, ignoring all competitive drives. The removal of the obstacles that affect public transportation in general and air transport in particular, the creation of a Transport Authority, the privatisation of the companies that run airports and the setting up of a European "slot" Agency (ESA) are to be looked upon as the steps to be undertaken within the framework of an economic policy aimed at making air transport actually ... take off.

Road pricing was first suggested at a theoretical level by Pigou back in 1920, and at a political level in1963 in the Smeed Report. Nevertheless, up to now it has only scarcely and partly been applied. In the light of the on-going debate and of recent experience, we speculate whether it is still to be regarded as desirable and feasible.