Congestion pricing was introduced into Singapore in June 1975 in the form of an Area Licensing Scheme (ALS) for restricting commuter traffic entering the CBD in the morning peak period. Most debates have focused on public acceptance and equity issues. The method to determine efficient or optimal tolls receives less attention, especially those tolls for point tolling or cordon pricing. This paper addresses the issue of optimality and provides a procedure in estimating the efficient tolls for different road types. It also compares the estimated efficient tolls with tolls that have been in operation in Singapore. The results suggest that the implemented tolls are similar to the short-run efficient toll estimates. This study recommends the use of a congestion distance rather than an average trip length for the calculation of efficient tolls. (a)
Samenvatting