The EU project PROGRESS (Pricing Road use for Greater Responsibility, Efficiency and Sustainability in cities) investigates the effects of different road pricing schemes. PROGRESS started in 2000 and will be completed 2004. Eight European cities, Trondheim, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Bristol, Edinburgh, Rome, Genoa and Gothenburg, take part in the project. Approaches vary from city to city, some more alike than others. Gothenburg will carry out simulations and large-scale field trials to estimate the effect on traffic and accessibility for two road-pricing schemes. Using in-vehicle, high-tech equipment, the project also focuses on user acceptance. The user attitudes towards road pricing before and after using the system will be investigated through questionnaires and travel behavior diaries for different stages of the field trial. The two schemes used in Gothenburg aims at improving the environment and increasing the accessibility by reducing congestion during peek-hour traffic. PROGRESS in Gothenburg will no result in the implementation of road pricing, but the project will provide Gothenburg's politicians and authorities with arguments and knowledge. Also, Gothenburg will be able to gain experience from the other PROGRESS sites, which will be very useful for potential future implementation. The time schedule for the Gothenburg project is that the field trial will proceed during 2002 and the first months of 2003. Evaluation will be carried out at different stages of the project. So far results from simulations, zero level survey as well as first part of the recruitment survey are available. The simulations for both congestion and environmental scenarios indicate positive effects on both environment and the traffic situation. There are reductions in the vehicle mileage during morning traffic peak hour improving the accessibility. The zero level survey indicate that 50% of the survey participants could travel at another time and that 25% could use PT more often then today. 80% think that congestion and queuing is a great problem today. The recruitment survey indicates that charges and RP based on environment and air quality gains the greatest acceptance. More data will be analyzed in time for the Chicago conference.
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