The art of road pricing `Teasing car drivers by road pricing measures is not done' according to the electoral programs of several Dutch political parties during the 2002 elections. Before the elections already, Dutch politicians rejected the concept of road pricing in The Netherlands. When road pricing seemed to be a likely measure, a study bas been done to determine the effects of several types of congestion pricing. In a case and by the use of a traffic situation model, the effects of four different congestion tax variants on route choice and level of service have been determined. Those variants varied in design of road pricing and in tariff. The study proved that the design of congestion pricing defines the effects more than the tariff does. The network performance improves as result of a shift of trips to the urban network. Even when there is a slightly shift from motorways to the urban roads the total delay in the network is rather reduced. However, this shift to the urban network possibly results in unsafety and negative effects on livability in the urban area. An effective tax should be implemented at (relative) heavily congested (parts of) roads. (Author/publisher)
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