Previous studies have implied that public acceptance of road pricing would be increased if it is perceived to be fair, but decrease if it is perceived to infringe on peoples' freedom. The objective of this study is to investigate whether effects of fairness and infringement on freedom on acceptance of road pricing can be found in other countries whose cultures were different from Sweden, such as Japan or Taiwan. If the same effects were found in different-culture countries, it would indicate that politicians and practitioners in diverse countries who plan to introduce road pricing schemes should pay more attention to drivers' perception of infringement on freedom and fairness, than if the effects were less widespread. Using the data, a regression analysis of acceptance of road pricing was implemented. The result shows that fairness had a significant positive effect and infringement on freedom had a significant negative effect on acceptance of road pricing, as were hypothesized in the current study. It is considered that politicians and practitioners in diverse countries who plan to introduce road pricing schemes should carefully design them in a way not to evoke peoples' feeling of unfairness. Fairness had larger effect on acceptance of road pricing than any other explanatory variables including infringement on freedom. It was also found that environmental concern did not have effect on acceptance. Acceptance in Sweden was lower than in Japan or Taiwan. It was indicated by the regression analysis that there is not a significant difference between acceptance in Taiwan and Japan. The results implied that infringement on freedom might be important for road pricing to be accepted in any of the countries. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126595.
Abstract