The concept of congestion is defined before the economics of congestion are discussed to consider what its true cost may be. Peak demand for travel combined with inappropriate travel-cost signals can cause congestion for road users, with flow-on effects on the economy and the wider community. Congestion is by definition a local issue, affecting cities and transport networks in different ways. There is often a close correlation between congestion and other externalities such as air and noise emissions. Road pricing can be an effective instrument for dealing with congestion and has the potential to achieve a broad number of objectives. However, measures based on different aspects of congestion such as speed, access, user costs, delay and reliability will give rise to different views about the causes of congestion and will motivate sometimes radically different policy interventions. The role of road pricing as a mechanism to keep congestion at an optimal level is examined and a review of pricing mechanisms and their associated technologies is presented. The focus is on the important lessons learnt from the international experience of road pricing; and how these may inform issues relating to congestion and other externalities in Australia. Recent developments and learning from many countries reaffirm the view that a degree of public acceptance is critical to the feasibility of road pricing. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. 0612AR242E.
Abstract