The Forecasting Air pollution by Car Traffic Simulation (FACTS) car computer model is used for predicting the influence of income and price changes on car ownership and use, energy and emissions. The great number of simulations show that the macro-economic scenario is seen to influence the effect of income and price measures. The influence of pricing measures on car ownership and use depend on how price increases are introduced, for instance an absolute or percentage-wise price increase, a general increase for all car models or an increase that varies with the car model (fuel, weight). Further the influence of prising measures depends on the cost item increased (such as fuel and other variable prices, sales taxes on new cars and annual road taxes). Finally, the effect of a measure changes over time. If two measures are combined, the overall effect is in 30% of the cases seen to differ from the expected effect. Sometimes combined price measures can even counteract each other, causing less effect than only one price measure.
Abstract