As part of a Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and DGVII (Transport) of the European Commission EUROTOLL research programme, Leicester has undertaken the UK's first Road Pricing experiment. The research project, covering 8 months, involves a consortium of partners, DETR, Leicester City Council, Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), Howard Humphreys Transport Planning and Leicestershire County Council. The aim of the project, involving volunteers who travel along the A47 West corridor, is to assess their change in behaviour and mode choice as a result of introducing charges, and to assess how Road Pricing would be integrated into a Transport Strategy. The scheme utilises road pricing and smart card technology, pollution monitoring and prediction modelling capabilities, network management (SCOOT), traffic signal systems and a purpose built Park & Ride interchange, 4 km of public transit prioritisation and low floor shuttle vehicles. During the experiment different pricing scenarios are being investigated including the impact of environmental conditions through monitoring air quality, traffic flows and weather conditions to assess the likelihood of high pollution days. The toll is then changed accordingly to reflect this. To ensure realism the volunteers are given a financial incentive to make realistic behavioural decisions. LERTS data collection is planned to be completed by Spring 1998, and a final report available at the end of 1998. This paper provides details of the project and early analysis, as well as identifying how Road Pricing can be further developed for wide-spread implementation.
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