This paper explores the potential of developing more optimal transport prices and markets, and resulting impacts on vehicle travel, consumer costs, environmental and land use impacts, economic development, and social welfare. Optimal pricing must balance economic efficiency, equity and transaction costs. Optimal markets must offer choices and information, minimise distortions, encourage producer competition, and avoid social traps. Current transport prices and markets often fail to meet these criteria. Although distortions may have been justified when transaction costs were high and motor vehicle externalities relatively small, new pricing technologies and increasing concern over external costs justifies increased emphasis on marginal and full-cost pricing, and efforts to eliminate market distortion. Eleven specific strategies are proposed to create more optimal pricing and markets. These strategies would significantly increase the perceived cost of motor vehicle use while reducing fixed vehicle costs and externalities, increase consumer choices and reduce market distortions. Higher vehicle costs would be offset by reductions in other taxes, consumer expenses, and motor vehicle externalities. Employment, productivity and economic development should increase. Most consumers should benefit overall. Full implementation of those changes is predicted to reduce motor vehicle use by 35%. This indicates that current high levels of automobile use are partly the result of mispricing and market distortions. Consumers reduce automobile travel, given a more optimal market. Current market distortions reduced consumer welfare. Although there are barriers to implementing more optimal pricing and markets, these can be minimised through good planning and management practices which make charges predictable and gradual, maxmise public involvement, and address specific public concerns. (Author/publisher
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