Increasingly, mobility is considered an economic product. Consequently a trend is observed to use economic laws to control the usage of the road infrastructure. This requires usage related charging schemes. From the viewpoint of reduction of congestion, financing infrastructure and passing on external costs, a distance related fee is regarded a possible instrument to charge the user proportionally to the use of the road infrastructure, based on the actual distance travelled. To investigate the feasibility of a distance related charging system, a general approach has been followed defining several baseline architectures based on identification of the main functions of such a system. The general approach has been applied to the Dutch situation. It is concluded that the general approach offers a viable and quick method to assess the initial feasibility of distance related charging and addresses the right questions to be answered by the customer before the development of a system is taken to the next step. For the Dutch situation, distance related charging is feasible. A system of measurements in the vehicle and calculation and payment at the road side/back office is preferred for further elaboration. It is recommended to harmonise with foreign initiatives in the field of distance related charging, and to harmonise with initiatives taken by the (European) automotive industry in the in-car telematics field and taken by national and European authorities.
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