Congestion pricing : a 'contraceptive' not a panacea.

Abstract

1.1.1 Cities have experienced traffic congestion throughout history because they represent a concentration of economic and social activity. But traffic congestion on main roads throughout urban areas and, in particular, the central business district, is a modern phenomenon. This problem is the result of inadequate standard of roads which is in turn the result of the growth in the number of motor vehicles. People find travel in urban areas not merely slow but also unpredictable and intolerable. Congestion is frustrating to the individual as well as extremely uneconomic. Without deliberate and effective counter-measures, congestion will increase. Traffic may not 'grind to a halt' but increased congestion will result in more widespread and longer traffic jams.

1.1.2 In Spite of the importance of this problem in Australia, com- paratively little attention has been paid to it. There has been no attempt to formulate a rational transport policy for urban areas. Therefore, it is proposed in this study to examine the problem of congestion in Sydney's Central Business District (or GED). The need for a new approach in the reduction of congestion is obvious. The different means of control which can be applied and the implications of these controls will be discussed. Although the study is confined in the main to Sydney, it is hoped that much of the discussion and analysis will be ap— plicable in’a wider context.

1.1.3 Congestion, in this study, is defined to occur when traffic is heavy, in relation to the capacity of the road, that vehicles impede one another's speed and progress. Although other road users such as cyclists, pedestrians and others apart from motor vehicle users also contribute to congestion considerably, they are not within the scope of this study. The present study is mainly concerned with the problem of congestion resulted from the increasing use of motor vehicles on the roads, the policy of restraining the use of private vehicles, and the impact and consequences that may be resulted from such policy implementation. Hence, the existing different approaches to the problem of congestion will be discussed in this chapter. In Chapter 2, the congestion phenomenon in Sydney‘s CBD will be analysed; the existing im— provement programmes, the future traffic growth and hence the need for control will also be discussed. A general description of the various means of traffic restraint is made at the beginning of Chapter 3 but the main concern is the control of parking as an effective measure of decongestion and its prospects in Sydney's CBD.

1.1.4 The main task of Chapter 4 is to examine the case for congestion pricing. The argument for its efficacy will be put forth; and the merits and demerits of various direct and indirect methods of charging the use of roads will be briefly evaluated. A section is devoted to the application of pricing to Sydney, in which the magnitude of congestion costs resulting from population and traffic growth will be demonstrated, and the gains and revenues from imposing congestion charges are also indicated. In Chapter 5, the general implications of congestion pricing on road investment, social costs, public and private trans— port, city development, problem of welfare, and overall benefits and effects are going to be discussed. The final chapter will be an appraisal of congestion pricing as a decongestion measure and review some of the common arguments on the status of congestion costs, the use of the revenue from congestion charges, discontinuities of demand and supply, pricing and town planning, road use optimization and income redistribution, as well as examining its scope and problems.

1.1.5 One of the important assumptions of this study is that there is no practical possibility of providing enough road space, particularly in CBD, to carry a rapidly growing volume of traffic. To obtain a more efficient use of road capacity, the effective choice will be between the growth of congestion or the control of demand through regulation or price. Therefore, it is considered that the basic objective of traffic control is to get the best use from scarce road space by regulating those road uses whose costs exceed returns. Another fundamental assumption is that the road is owned by one authority (normally public) while the vehicles are owned and operated by a large number of independent agents (and normally private). The crucial assumption is that the owner of the road does not at the same time own and operate the vehicles that use the road. The second assumption is that there is no monopoly on the use of the road. This is the essential difference between the public roads and the railways.