Ready to Begin: Driving Towards the Best and Steering Away from the Worst in Road Pricing Policy Reform

Abstract

Declining revenue from traditional road funding sources, rising infrastructure costs, and the transition to electric vehicles have increased the urgency of road user charging reform as a key demand management strategy. While such schemes can improve transport system efficiency by pricing congestion and other externalities, their implementation requires careful balancing with concerns around fairness and affordability. Public acceptability therefore remains a critical constraint on policy adoption. This paper examines which policy features most strongly influence support for road user charging and how these preferences can inform the design of policies that advance efficiency, fairness, and affordability objectives. A best worst scaling approach is used to elicit the relative importance of policy features, with choices modelled using a hybrid choice framework that captures both observed preferences and underlying attitudes. Three distinct behavioural classes are identified, reflecting differing priorities related to efficiency, fairness and consistency, and broader public benefit. Across these groups, governance and institutional arrangements are central to perceived legitimacy. Features such as public ownership, not for profit operation, independent investment decision making, and transparent revenue use are strongly preferred, while more complex pricing mechanisms are viewed less favourably. The findings highlight the importance of trust, fairness, and affordability in supporting effective and acceptable reform.