This paper looks briefly at the characteristics of the technologies commonly considered for road user charging and then the types of scheme design which could be implemented. A quick overview of the key technologies available and commonly used for detecting vehicle usage is provided. Each of the charging policies suggested can have further variations with different tariffs based on combinations of time of day, direction of travel, road type, vehicle characteristics (emissions categories, trailers, etc) and vehicle class (heavy goods vehicle, car, motorbike, etc). To achieve best value the factors which must be balanced are the implementation costs, the operating costs, the understanding and acceptability by users and achieving the desired change in the pattern of vehicle usage. The issues arising fromthe geography of the area for road pricing are discussed. Gantries and toll plazas maybe acceptable on major roads but less so in urban areas and outside historic buildings. The cost of serving the users of a scheme is the multiple of the frequency of communication and the cost of response so it is advantageous to minimise both. The objective is to set scheme charging policies and methods to maximise the use of electronic payment channels and customer self service. The key to gaining a cost saving through account type payment is billing accuracy. It is considered that barriers and toll plazas are not viable options for most road user charging purposes because of both the physical space they require and their impact on the free flow of traffic. Satellite systems are prohibitively expensive unless the scheme impacts a relatively small number of users or covers a large physicalarea (e.g. national lorry user charges). This leaves ANPR and Tag based options for city and other limited geography or route schemes. Here the artis balancing the issues of ANPR accuracy against charging policy. The practicality of ANPR only solutions diminish as the number of charging eventsper user increases however the cost of Tag based solutions and handling the infrequent users must be balanced against the scheme objectives as the more complex options will inevitably cost more to implement, operate and enforce. For the covering abstract see ITRD E134653.
Abstract